FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 70, NO. 3 



Opening a cocoanut, Hawaii. 



directing through their formative years, the four 

 research programs he administered for forty-two 

 years. Equally significant, and perhaps greater, 

 is the sustaining influence he exerted throughout 

 the years as Chairman of EPOC and a guiding 

 member of CalCOFI and other such research 

 groups. Here, his uncanny ability to foresee a 

 problem situation and sidestep the issue before 

 it became a crisis was especially valuable. Also 

 important are the untold hours of service rend- 

 ered government agencies, the scientific com- 

 munity, the industry, and others as a technical 

 advisor, special consultant, official delegate, lead- 

 er, and friend. Over and above all is the remark- 

 able contribution of the man himself through 

 his personal warmth, his unusual ability to in- 

 spire, his patience and perception as a teacher, 

 his gift of enthusiasm for his own work and 

 that of others, and most of all, his genuine in- 

 terest in and love of people. 



There is an impressive list of publications to 

 Sette's credit, in spite of his time-consuming 

 administrative responsibilities. Several have 

 been mentioned above. Other important papers 

 include: Estimation of the abundance of the 

 eggs and larvae of the Pacific pilchard off south- 

 ern California during 19A0 and 1941 (Sette and 

 Ahlstrom, 1948) ; Considerations of midocean 

 fish production as related to oceanic circulatory 

 systems (1955); Problems in fish population 

 fluctuations (1961); Ocean environment and 

 fish distribution and abundance (1966); and 



A perspective of a multi-species fishery (1969). 



Sette also found the time to keep up with cur- 

 rent literature in his own fields as well as that 

 of others which intrigued his scholarly or sci- 

 entific interests. His own library is extensive, 

 and he, personally, has indexed most of the ma- 

 terial pertaining to ocean sciences. Sette's mem- 

 ory is retentive, and when asked, he can call to 

 mind papers on specific subjects, although the 

 article may have been written years ago. 



When asked his choice of a place to live, he 

 chose California, with its long coastline and mild 

 sunny climate. He and Mrs. Sette make their 

 home in Los Altos where they have resided for 

 many years. They are a devoted family, and 

 enjoy having their only daughter, Josephine 

 Helene Barnes, and her family live nearby in 

 San Jose. The Robert F. Barnes have two young 

 sons, ages four and seven, who are a source of 

 great pleasure to their grandparents. 



Needless to say, the Settes' garden is a place 

 of beauty, as well as a practical source of food. 

 Planned with the precision of a research pro- 

 gram, the yard is planted in rotation to produce 

 a continuous supply of fresh vegetables and 

 flowers from early spring throughout the fall 

 months; and, they enjoy a succession of fruit 

 in season from the many varieties he has culti- 

 vated or skillfully grafted to parent trees. The 

 flowers attract the butterflies Sette loves, and 

 have given rise to a backyard investigation, in 

 his spare time, of a subtropical species Agraulis 

 vanillae, -which appeared early in 1960, enticed 

 by the passion flower plants growing in the 

 garden. Hoping to keep the small population 

 alive during the winter months, Sette started 

 growing passion flowers in the lathe house to 

 protect the eggs and larvae from unaccustomed 

 cold. He began to study the fluctuation of their 

 populations, observing the time of emergence 

 and the relationship to warmth and sunshine. 

 This correlation to warm, sunny spring days 

 fostered an interest in amateur meteorology, 

 which has developed into another hobby. Daily 

 he observes the humidity and the barometric 

 pressures and follows the passing lows and highs 

 with interest. This keen sense of awareness of 

 his surroundings is a delightful part of his per- 

 sonality. 



532 



