Edwin Philip Pister (January 15, 1929 – January 17, 2023) was an American fishery biologist who worked for California Department of Fish and Game.[1] He was a pioneer of desert fish conservation, and is credited with saving the Owens pupfish (Cyprinodon radiosis) by transferring the entire remaining population into several buckets and transporting them to a safe location.[2][3]

Edwin Philip Pister
Born(1929-01-15)January 15, 1929
Stockton, California, U.S.
DiedJanuary 17, 2023(2023-01-17) (aged 94)
Bishop, California, U.S.
OccupationFishery biologist, conservationist, deep ecologist
NationalityAmerican
SubjectDesert fishes, conservation, environmental ethics

Pister was born in Stockton, California and lived in Bishop, California. A volume compiling studies of desert fishes has been published in his honor.[4] He has written and published scientific and popular papers and has also written about environmental ethics.[5]

Pister helped found the non-profit Desert Fishes Council in 1969, serving as its first president, then as its Executive Secretary until his death.[6]

Audio interviews of him are available in the Bancroft Library at University of California, Berkeley[7]

Pister died in Bishop, California on January 17, 2023, two days after his 94th birthday.[8]

Awards

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References

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  1. ^ Roberts, Rich (August 1, 1990). "Fish Came First : Phil Pister Didn't Make a Lot of Friends, but He Made a Mark in 37 Years at DFG". Los Angeles Times.
  2. ^ Pister, E. P. Species in a bucket. Archived June 25, 2009, at Archive-It Natural History Magazine (January 1993). pg 14. Retrieved October 27, 2021.
  3. ^ Terrill, C. "Islands". In: Albert, S. W. What Wildness is This: Women Write About the Southwest. University of Texas Press. (2007). pg 129. Retrieved September 29, 2011.
  4. ^ Ma. De Lourdes Lozano-Vilano; Armando J. Contreras-Balderas, eds. (November 2006). Studies of North American Desert Fishes in Honor of E.P.(Phil) Pister Conservationist. Monterrey, Mexico: Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo Leon. ISBN 970-694-336-6. OL 22979888M.
  5. ^ Pister, E. Phil (1995). "The Rights of Species and Ecosystems". Fisheries. 20 (4). Archived from the original on August 22, 2006. Retrieved April 25, 2006.
  6. ^ .Springer, Craig. "Pioneers: Edwin "Phil" Pister". Fish and Aquatic Conservation. US Fish and Wildlife Service. Retrieved May 9, 2015.
  7. ^ Phil Pister, An Oral History. Retrieved January 23, 2023.
  8. ^ "Biologist Phil Pister — who singlehandedly saved species from extinction — dead at 94". NPR. January 26, 2023. Retrieved November 17, 2023.
  9. ^ "Andrea Lawrence Award Dinner". www.monolake.org. Retrieved May 5, 2018.