Three lumps of coal: doing fisheries research in Lowestoft in the 1940s

Abstract

Abstract Following graduation from the University of Reading in 1946, I was offered a job as a “Naturalist” at the Lowestoft Fisheries Laboratory. I learned to appreciate Michael Graham, the director, and was incredibly lucky to have such a man as my first boss and mentor. During my few months working alone before Ray Beverton returned from Cambridge, I put together the simple yield equation in the form in which it was eventually published, and produced most of the theorems that you may see in Parts I and II of Beverton and Holt (On the Dynamics of Exploited Fish Populations. Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, UK. 533 pp.). When Ray returned, we began to work seriously together in 1947–1950 to complete the substantive work on the book. The three lumps of coal was the fuel brought daily into our office in an annex to the main laboratory to keep us warm while working. Before leaving Lowestoft in 1950 for the Nature Conservancy, considerable time was devoted to publishing papers and “diversions” such as attending/speaking at conferences and international negotiations, as well as research on possible effects on fish of low-level radioactive wastes from a nuclear power plant. In late 1953, I resigned from the Nature Conservancy and accepted a position with the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome.