Celebrating 50 years of excellence in research and education:
A story of collaboration, persistence and innovation.
In the slideshow below, first presented at the PEEC 2022 conference in March 2022, we describe the story of the BMSC, which has grown as a result of a remarkable collaboration among 5 universities working together to provide a field station on the west coast of Vancouver Island. We share historical photographs from our archive and the first years as the Bamfield Marine Station, highlight how we have grown, and describe our journey and strategy for the future, as we plan for success as a sustainable, world-class research and education facility on the west coast of Canada.
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"It's blossomed more than anyone could have expected," says George Mackie. "It's turned out to be an enormous boon not just to the five universities but to visitors from around the world.”In the beginning, starting with nothing, "we had to improvise everything," says Louis Druehl.Now, with state-of-the-art freshwater and marine aquaria, research vessels, laser scanning microscopes, a fluid dynamics lab, housing and food services for more than 100 people, BMSC is a world-class facility of international repute, its research frequently gracing the pages of top tier scientific journals.
Link to pdf’s of the original stories by Bill Austin and Chris Lobban
A very good year for small town marine biologists – by Bill Austin
1972: A very good year for small town marine biologists – by Chris Lobban
This presentation was created and presented by Dr. Heather Alexander
to the PEEC 2022 Conference, March 20, 2022.
Thank you to many photographers including; Ron Long, Oliver Evans, Iain R. Reid, Jeff Reynolds, Heather Alexander, Stella Peters, Lily Campbell, Paul Joseph, Bill Austin, Chris Lobban, and Leya Tess Anderson.