The School of Fisheries, University of Washington, which is now rounding out the first year of its existence, on the evening of February 25 held a house warming and smoker in the college buildings, to give those engaged in commercial fishery operations an opportunity to inspect the equipment of the institution and get acquainted with the faculty and students. The affair was well attended by fish packers, supply men and others, who were most favorably impressed with the work of the college in advancing the technical knowledge of fishery matters.
The earlier part of the evening was devoted to inspection of the various fisheries buildings by the visitors, who took great interest in the facilities afforded for instruction along technical lines. The buildings are now completely fitted up, with all necessary equipment for the work in hand, though additions will undoubtedly be made as the need or opportunity arises.
Following inspection of the buildings a very pleasing program was presented in Fisheries Hall No. 2 by members of the University Fisheries Club featuring wrestling, boxing and music, etc. Refreshments included roll-mops, smoked fish sandwiches and various other appropriate delicacies, with plenty of smokes and sweet cider.
John N. Cobb, director of the College in an address of welcome urged a close cooperation between men engaged in the industry and the University that both might receive the fullest possible benefit from the new school. Interesting talks were also given by Dr. Ernest D. Clark, director of investigations for the National Canners Association in the salmon industry; Hon. Will A. Lowman, and Dr. John Weinzirl.
The Buildings and Equipment
Fisheries Hall No. 1, known as the technology building, contains the museum, fisheries library and administrative offices, in addition to rooms for instruction. In the museum, at the entrance to the building, are models of many forms of fishing gear, both primitive and modern, with a large variety of implements used in the industry; and a collection has been started of samples of various forms of canned fishery products. Among the models of fishing appliances are a miniature purse seine, trammel net and salmon gill net, made and presented by the Pacific Net & Twine company of Seattle; a complete miniature otter trawl presented by the Great Grimsby Coal, Salt, Tanning & Ice Company, Ltd., of Grimsby, England; and many forms of pound nets and trap nets, both stationary and floating, Philippine fishing gear, etc. It is hoped that there can be added to this a collection of models of all types of vessels used in the fisheries.
This building also contains a lecture room with seating capacity for 40 students; a methods laboratory, where the preparation and use of various types of fishing gear can be demonstrated; and a research laboratory and testing room for canned goods, with an incubator in which products may be submitted to a bacteriological test. Fisheries Hall No. 2 contains the ichthyological and fish culture laboratories, with offices for the respective instructors, and a large lecture hall with room for 150 students; and in the basement is a pathology laboratory for the study of diseases and parasites of fish, a workroom for handling preserved specimens, and two storerooms for cured specimens. The laboratories in this hall are equipped with elaborate darkrooms, both for photographic work and for testing the effects of light. The fish culture laboratory will house hatching troughs for salmon and trout, glass jars for buoyant and semi-buoyant eggs, a lobster hatching box, aquaria, and other necessary apparatus.
Probably the greatest interest, is taken in Fisheries Hall No. 3, which is a well equipped miniature cannery, saltery and barrel plant. The machines are electrically operated, and the building has its own boiler for steam cooking, etc. The canning machinery includes two upright retorts, made by the Menninger & Ayes Manufacturing company of Portland, Ore.; temperature, time and pressure control equipment donated by the Tagliabue Manufacturing company; and two double seamers–one semi-automatic, for round cans, donated by the Seattle-Astoria Iron Works, the other for ovals and sardine cans, donated by the American Can company, which also has supplied a can tester and vacuum gauge. In addition there are washing tanks and brine tanks, a fry bath for frying fish in oil before canning and a pneumatic dryer such as is used in the California sardine industry.
For the curing department, the Western Cooperage company has furnished a complete barrel making outfit, with windlass, tools, tubs and a lot of knock-down barrels, and has also sent an instructor in setting up the various kinds of barrels used. For demonstration purposes, the Southern Alaska Canning company has donated during the term 12 barrels of Scotch cured herring. The handling of material in this building is facilitated by a Stuebing lift truck, donated through the Tindolph company of Seattle. The building is 50 by 30 ft., and is floored with concrete, and contains two store rooms and a complete tool room besides the main laboratory.
In addition to the buildings, it is planned before long to have four cement fish ponds for the rearing of fry, with a capacity of about 10,000,000 a year.
Practical demonstrations have been conducted regularly in the canning laboratory for some time, and high appreciation is expressed of the cooperation of Edwin Ripley, of the Ripley Fish company and of L. H. Darwin, state fish commissioner, in furnishing fish for this purpose. The college is also indebted to a number who have contributed books for the fisheries library; and other books or specimens for the museum, whether donated or loaned, will be most welcome; back volumes of the Pacific Fisherman being especially desired.
The Fisheries Faculty
The regular faculty of the College of Fisheries includes John N. Cobb, professor of Fisheries, director; Trevor Kincaid, professor of ichthyology; Dr. Nathan Faster, instructor in fish pathology and parasitology; C. L. Anderson, instructor in fisheries, and H. H. Hungerford, assistant in fish curing, and several others have given special instruction in certain subjects.
Short Courses Completed
The short courses given by the college for the benefit of special students engaged in commercial work, which opened January 2, have just been completed. Despite the fact that they were undertaken under some difficulty, the equipment being incomplete at the beginning of the quarter, the courses have been highly successful from the viewpoint of both students and faculty, and will be repeated on a more elaborate scale next winter.The work of the college has been an object of lively interest among the commercial fishery operators, and enrollments in the short courses at the start numbered forty students, of all ages from 21 to 65, and of all degrees of experience in fisheries work. The attendance in both short and regular courses, in fact, has been highly satisfactory, and inquiries regarding enrollment have been received from many distant points.
The short courses included special instruction by several members of the faculty outside of the regular fisheries college, a course in navigation being given by Prof. Boothroyd, of the astronomy department; one in marine gas engineering, by Prof. Geo. S. Wilson; and one in bacteriology, by Dr. John Weinzirl. The work done in the short courses by Mr. Hungerford, who was for many years engaged in the fish curing, smoking and pickling business, is mentioned as receiving special appreciation; and great interest was taken by the special students in several special lectures, including one on tuna and sardines, by Dr. Norman Hendrickson, director of investigations for the National Canners' Association in the Southern California fisheries; one on grayfish, by A. W. Hansen, in charge of the Seattle Food and Drug Laboratory of the U.S. Bureau of Chemistry; one on salmon inspection, by Walter Hopkins Horner of Seattle, and one on the preparation of codfish for market, by J. O. W. Brown, of the Pacific American Fisheries.
Reprinted from Pacific Fisherman XVIII (3): 25-27, 1920.