Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre (formerly the Bamfield Marine Station) is a

marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military ...

research station established in 1972, located in Bamfield, Barkley Sound, British Columbia and run by the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary insti ...

, the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks among the top thr ...

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located ...

, the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a Public university, public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexande ...

, and the

University of Calgary The University of Calgary (U of C or UCalgary) is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The University of Calgary started in 1944 as the Calgary branch of the University of Alberta, founded in 1908, prior to being ins ...

. The Centre hosts numerous public education programs in marine related science. BC Field Trips organizes many instructional and educational programs for school-aged children at the Centre. The Centre also runs courses for

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...

students during the summer (May to late August or early September) and during the fall (September to mid-December) through their affiliated universities. The Centre is housed in the original building used as the western terminus of the British Empire's worldwide undersea cable called the

All Red Line The All Red Line was a system of electrical telegraphs that linked much of the British Empire. It was inaugurated on 31 October 1902. The informal name derives from the common practice of colouring the territory of the British Empire red or ...

. Originally the site of the Pacific Cable Board (PCB) Cable Station, which served as the eastern terminus of the trans-Pacific

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...

cable linking

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

to Fanning Island (1,600 kilometres south of

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

). The telegraph cable operated from 1901 to 1959. From 1969 to 1980, the Bamfield Marine Station was part of the

British Columbia Shore Station Oceanographic Program The British Columbia Shore Station Oceanographic Program is a sea surface temperature and salinity monitoring program on the Canadian coast of the northeast Pacific Ocean. The program is administered by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and regroups ...

, collecting coastal water temperature and salinity measurements for the

Department of Fisheries and Oceans Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO; french: Pêches et Océans Canada, MPO), is a department of the Government of Canada that is responsible for developing and implementing policies and programs in support of Canada's economic, ecological and sc ...

everyday for 11 years. The Centre also lends continued logistical support for

Folger Passage Folger is an English and German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Abiah Folger (1667–1752), mother of Benjamin Franklin * Abigail Folger (1943–1969), American civil rights activist * Alonzo Dillard Folger (1888–1941), Am ...

and

Barkley Sound , image = Fishing boat in the Broken Group Islands.jpg , image_size = 260px , alt = , caption = Barkley Sound , image_bathymetry = , alt_bathymetry = , caption_bathymetry = , locat ...

with

Ocean Networks Canada Ocean Networks Canada is a University of Victoria initiative that operates the NEPTUNE and VENUS cabled ocean observatories in the northeast Pacific Ocean and the Salish Sea. Additionally, Ocean Networks Canada operates smaller community-base ...

. In April 2016, Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre and the

Huu-ay-aht First Nations The Huu-ay-aht First Nations is a First Nations band government based on Pachena Bay about northwest of Victoria, British Columbia on the west coast of Vancouver Island, in Canada. The traditional territories of the Huu-ay-aht make up the waters ...

partnered with the

Hakai Institute The Hakai Institute (formerly the Hakai Beach Institute) is a scientific research, teaching and meeting center established by Eric Peterson and Christina Munck on Calvert Island, a remote island on the exposed Pacific edge of the Great Bear Rainf ...

to launch a drone. The drone took a series of photos, which were then used to map portions of the Barkley Sound area. On July 1, 2018, Dr. Sean Rogers, a biology instructor at the University of Calgary, was named director of the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre for a five-year term. Rogers has taught university courses at the Centre, and had been named acting director in 2016.

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References

Oceanographic organizations Research institutes in Canada Barkley Sound region Buildings and structures in British Columbia Educational organizations based in British Columbia Tourist attractions in British Columbia {{Canada-org-stub