Frances Naomi Clark (1894 – 1987) was an American

ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish (Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of October ...

. She was one of the first woman fishery researchers to receive world-wide recognition. The daughter of a Nebraska farmer, she was born near

St. Edward, Nebraska St. Edward or Saint Edward is a city in Boone County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 725 at the 2020 census. History St. Edward was founded in 1871. An early variant name was "Waterville". A post office called Waterville was establ ...

. She moved to California with her family in 1910 and attended Stanford University, earning an

A.B. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four ye ...

in zoology in 1918. She was employed by the United States Bureau of Commercial Fisheries from 1918 to 1921, working as lab assistant for

Charles Henry Gilbert Charles Henry Gilbert (December 5, 1859 in Rockford, Illinois – April 20, 1928 in Palo Alto, California) was a pioneer ichthyologist and fishery biologist of particular significance to natural history of the western United States. He col ...

. She worked for the California Division of Fish and Game from 1921 to 1923. She earned a MS in 1924 and a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper ''Piled Higher and Deeper'' (also known as ''PhD Comics''), is a newsp ...

in 1925 from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

. From 1925 to 1926, she taught at San Jose Junior High School. From 1926 to 1941, she worked for the California Department of Fish and Game as an assistant biologist and then researcher. From 1941, she was director of the California State Fisheries Laboratory on

Terminal Island Terminal Island, historically known as Isla Raza de Buena Gente, is a largely artificial island located in Los Angeles County, California, between the neighborhoods of Wilmington and San Pedro in the city of Los Angeles, and the city of Long Be ...

, retiring to

La Jolla La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood within the city of San Diego, California, United States, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781. La Jolla is surrounded on ...

in 1956. Her research mainly focused on the

Pacific sardine ''Sardinops'' is a monotypic genus of sardines of the family Clupeidae. The only member of the genus is ''Sardinops sagax''. It is found in the Indo-Pacific and East Pacific oceans. Its length is up to . It has numerous common or vernacular names ...

. Besides working in California, she also conducted research studies in

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

. Clark's studies of sardine populations off the California coast during the 1930s led her to believe that, without better yield management in the sardine fishery, depletion of the sardine population was inevitable. Calls for restraint from Clark and other scientists were ignored and the collapse of the fishery and the associated canning industry followed. She later played an important role in establishing California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI) and continued to be involved with that organization after her retirement. Clark never married. Her sister

Laura Hubbs Laura may refer to: People * Laura (given name) * Laura, the British code name for the World War I Belgian spy Marthe Cnockaert Places Australia * Laura, Queensland, a town on the Cape York Peninsula * Laura, South Australia * Laura Bay, a bay o ...

and brother-in-law

Carl Leavitt Hubbs Carl Leavitt Hubbs (October 19, 1894 – June 30, 1979) was an American ichthyologist. Biography Youth He was born in Williams, Arizona. He was the son of Charles Leavitt and Elizabeth (née Goss) Hubbs. His father had a wide variety of jobs (f ...

were both ichthyologists. Clark died on 10 February 1987 in La Jolla.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Frances Naomi 1894 births 1987 deaths American ichthyologists Stanford University alumni University of Michigan alumni 20th-century American zoologists

See also

References