Francis Trevelyan Buckland (17 December 1826 – 19 December 1880), better known as Frank Buckland, was an English surgeon, zoologist, natural historian, prolific writer, campaigner against river pollution, and researcher on fish-culture and fish farming.

Frank Buckland with some of the exhibits from his Museum of Economic Fish Culture in South Kensington

The Buckland Foundation is a charity endowed from Buckland's estate.[1] It funds a 'Buckland Professor' each year to give public talks throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland on matters of current concern in the commercial fisheries or aquaculture industry, as well as acting as custodian for the 'Buckland Collection'.[2]

Frank and his father William Buckland, were determined to do all that they could to improve the diet of the poor. Frank was especially impressed by the potential of the lightly-exploited fisheries of the Victorian era to supply cheap and nutritious food. He was among the first naturalists to realise that making the most of the resources of the sea would require a comprehensive understanding of the biology of the main commercial species and of the world that they inhabited.

Frank was made 'Fish Culturist to the Queen' in 1865. He was appointed as one of two Inspectors of Salmon Fisheries in the Home Office in 1867.[3] He took part in four Commissions of Inquiry into the sea fisheries of England, Wales and Scotland and in doing so also covered white fish, herring and shellfish. The 1878 Commission required Buckland to investigate whether beam trawlers caused wasteful destruction of spawn and as a result were leading to a decline in the supply of fish.[3] One of the recommendations was that "Inspectors should be required to collect statistical and other information and use this to report annually to Parliament on the condition of fisheries", thereby instigating the first systematic fisheries data collection in the United Kingdom.[3]


Museum of Economic Fish Culture

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The Buckland Collection, now held at the Scottish Fisheries Museum, Anstruther

Buckland founded a Museum of Economic Fish Culture in South Kensington in 1865. This aimed to inform the public about the fish of the British Isles and their fisheries, and he continued to work on this for the rest of his life. The remaining contents of Buckland's collection are now held by the Scottish Fisheries Museum in Anstruther. These include 45 plaster casts, some of which were hand-painted by the noted garden designer and artist Gertrude Jekyll, and an 1882 marble bust of Buckland by John Warrington Wood.[4] The Scottish Fisheries Museum is also the registered office of the Buckland Foundation.

Two of Buckland's particular enthusiasms were public aquaria and fisheries exhibitions.[3] In 1866 Buckland attended fisheries exhibitions in Arcachon and in Boulogne-Sur-Mer (France) and was awarded medals for his exhibits. Two further exhibitions were held in the Netherlands in 1867 and Buckland was awarded a Diploma of Honour for his contribution. He endeavoured to arouse interest in one being held in Britain but was not successful in this aim until 1881 (after his death), when a 'National Fisheries Exhibition' was held in the city of Norwich.[3]

Buckland Professors and Lectures

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Buckland Professors are appointed annually by a board of trustees. A complete list of Buckland Professors and their lecture subjects is provided below.

Source: Buckland Foundation Archived 19 August 2013 at the Wayback Machine

Buckland Professor Year Lecture subject
Walter Garstang 1930 Frank Buckland's Life and Work
W.L.Calderwood 1931 Salmon Hatching and Salmon Migrations
H Wood 1932 The Natural History of the Herring in Scottish Waters
W.C.Hodgson 1933 The Natural History of the Herring in the Southern North Sea
C.F Hickling 1934 The Hake and the Hake Fishery
J.H.Orton 1935 Oyster Biology and Oyster Culture
E.Ford 1936 The Nation's Fish Supply
T.E.Pryce Tarrant 1937 Fish Passes
J.B.Tait 1938 Hydrography in Relation to Fisheries
Michael Graham 1939 Rational Fishing of the Cod in the North Sea
W.J.Menzies 1947 The Stock of Salmon, its Migrations, Preservation and Improvement
G.T.Atkinson 1948 Sea Fisheries
R.S.Wimpenny 1949 The Plaice
H.D.Turing 1950 River Pollution
J.R.Lumby 1951 Fishery Hydrography
F.T.K.Pentalow 1952 River Purification
A.E.J.Went 1953 Irish Salmon and Salmon Fisheries
H.A.Cole 1954 Inshore Fisheries
B.B.Parrish 1956 The Haddock
A.P.Orr 1957 Plankton (Published as the Fertile Sea)
A.R.Bennett 1958 Lemon Sole
R.Balls 1959 Fish Capture
R.J.H.Beverton 1960 Historical Background of International Organisations for Regulating Fisheries, their achievements so far, and prospects for the future
N.A.Mackintosh 1961 The Stocks of Whales
M.E.Varley 1963 British Freshwater Fishes
G.H.O.Burgess 1964 Developments in the Handling and Processing of Fish
H.J.Thomas & A.C.Simpson 1965 The Lobster - its biology and fishery
D.G Tucker 1966 Sonar in Fisheries - a forward look
P.R.Walne 1967 The Artificial Cultivation of Shellfish
A.J.Lee 1969 Ocean Currents and their Influence on Fisheries
C.C.Hemmings 1970 Fish, Nets and Men - An Underwater Approach to Fisheries Research
F.R Harden Jones 1971 Behaviour and the Fisheries
K.A.Pyefinch 1974 Exploitation of the Salmon Stocks
E.Edwards 1977 The Edible Crab and its Fishery
J.J.Connell & R.Hardy 1979 Maximum Use of British Aquatic Food Resources
J.Mason 1980 Scallop and Queen Fisheries in the British Isles
A.Preston & P.C.Wood 1981 Marine Pollution and its Effect on Fisheries
G.Eddie 1982 Engineering, Economics and Fisheries Management
G.Buchan 1983 A Story of the Herring
S.J.Lockwood 1984 Mackerel – its biology, assessment and the management of a fishery
R.J.Roberts 1985 Aquaculture
C.Chapman 1987 The Norway Lobster
C.T.Macer 1988 North Sea Cod
W.M.Shearer 1989 Atlantic Salmon
R.Lloyd 1990 Pollution and Freshwater fisheries
M.J.Holden 1991 The Common Fisheries Policy: Past, Present and Future
R.Bailey 1992 Industrial Fisheries, Fish Stocks and Seabirds
S.Gubbay 1993 Marine Protected Areas and Fisheries
J.D.M.Gordon 1994 Deep-Sea Fisheries: a new resource?
B.E.Spencer 1995 Bivalve Cultivation in the UK: structuring influences
J.S.Gray 1996 Protecting the seas: using science for a better environment
JP.Holligan 1997 Global Change in the Coastal Zone - implications for fisheries
M.Angel 1998 The Deep Ocean: Use and Misuse
C.Moriarty 1999 The European Eel
D.Symes 2000 Integrated fisheries management – a challenge for the Common Fisheries Policy
C.P.Reid 2001 Plankton and Fisheries
R Ferro 2002 Fish Conservation and the design of fishing gear
J Goodlad 2003 Fishing and Fish Farming - are they conflicting or complementary industries?
J Addison 2004 Science and the management of the United Kingdom's Crab Fisheries
J.Armstrong 2005 The conservation of Salmon habitat
B Deas 2006 Regional Advisory Councils and the Future of Fisheries Policy
W Turrell 2007 Climate change and Scottish Fisheries
M.Beveridge 2008 Aquaculture, the Blue Revolution?
D Righton 2009 Cod in the North Sea
R Uglow 2010 Crustacean transport
A Walker 2011 Variation amongst brown trout and sea trout (Salmo trutta L.)
I.L. Boyd 2012 Future Approaches to Fisheries Science
S. Holt 2013 Why Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY)?
M.Windsor 2014 Managing migratory fish by international treaty: the strengths and weaknesses
Colin Bannister 2015 Has EU fisheries management achieved stock recovery?
Felicity Huntingford 2016 How smart are fish and why does this matter to fishers?
Paul Hart 2017 Stewards of the Sea: Returning Power to Fishers
Ronald Campbell 2018 The History of Salmon Management in the British Isles
Lucy Hawkes 2019 Atlantic Bluefin Tuna: Superfish of the Oceans
Steven Mackinson 2021-22 Resurrection: the fall and rise of industry participation in fisheries science.


See also

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References

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  1. ^ "The Buckland Foundation". The Scottish Fisheries Museum Trust. Archived from the original on 19 June 2015. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  2. ^ "Buckland Professors and Lectures". The Scottish Fisheries Museum Trust. Archived from the original on 19 June 2015. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  3. ^ a b c d e MAFF (1992). The Directorate of Fisheries Research: Its Origins and Development. Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Lowestoft. 332pp.
  4. ^ "The Buckland Collection". The Scottish Fisheries Museum Trust. Archived from the original on 19 June 2015. Retrieved 19 June 2015.