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 | |
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 | |
| Born | January 15, 1929 Stockton, California, U.S. |
| Died | January 17, 2023 (aged 94) Bishop, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Fishery biologist, conservationist, deep ecologist |
| Nationality | American |
| Subject | Desert 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
edit- Order of the Jassid (for conservation) from Sierra Pacific Flyfishers
- President's Fishery Conservation Award from the American Fisheries Society
- The Edward T. LaRoe III Memorial Award from the Society for Conservation Biology.
- 2018 Andrea Lawrence Award from the Mono Lake Committee.[9]
References
edit- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ .Springer, Craig. "Pioneers: Edwin "Phil" Pister". Fish and Aquatic Conservation. US Fish and Wildlife Service. Retrieved May 9, 2015.
- ^ Phil Pister, An Oral History. Retrieved January 23, 2023.
- ^ "Biologist Phil Pister — who singlehandedly saved species from extinction — dead at 94". NPR. January 26, 2023. Retrieved November 17, 2023.
- ^ "Andrea Lawrence Award Dinner". www.monolake.org. Retrieved May 5, 2018.