Oscar Elton Sette
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Dr. Oscar Elton Sette |
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| Born |
March 29, 1900 Clyman, Wisconsin |
| Died | July 25, 1972 (aged 72) Los Altos, California |
| Resting place | Ashes scattered in Pacific Ocean |
| Nationality | United States |
| Fields | Fisheries science |
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| Known for | Modernization and administration of fisheries science |
| Notable awards | U.S. Department of the Interior Distinguished Service Award |
| Spouse | Elizabeth G. Sette née Jackson |
Oscar Elton Sette (March 29, 1900 - July 25, 1972), who preferred to be called Elton Sette, was an influential 20th-century American fisheries scientist. During a five-decade career with the United States Bureau of Fisheries, United States Fish and Wildlife Service and its Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, and the National Marine Fisheries Service, Sette pioneered the integration of fisheries science with the sciences of oceanography and meteorology to develop a complete understanding of the physical and biological characteristics of the ocean environment and the effects of those characteristics on fisheries and fluctuations in the abundance of fish. He is recognized both in the United States and internationally for many significant contributions he made to marine fisheries research and for his leadership in the maturation of fisheries science to encompass fisheries oceanography, defined as the "appraisal or exploitation of any kind of [marine] organism useful to Man" and "the study of oceanic processes affecting the abundance and availability of commercial fishes." Many fisheries scientists consider him to be the "father of modern fisheries science."
Oscar Elton Sette was born in Clyman, Wisconsin, on 29 July 1900, the fourth child and second son of Martin and Louise Sette. After a few years the family moved to Juneau, Wisconsin, and in 1910 to a lemon ranch in Chula Vista, California. As a child, Sette developed an early interest in nature and living things and became an avid butterfly collector, which became a lifelong hobby.
Sette attended National City High School in National City, California. After graduation in 1917, he began studies at San Diego Junior College in San Diego, California , planning to transfer to the University of California in Berkeley in the fall of 1918 to study entomology. By chance, however, he met his high school chemistry teacher, Elmer Higgins, on a San Diego street in 1918. Higgins was working as a scientific assistant at the California State Fisheries Laboratory in San Pedro, and he invited Sette to accompany him on an exploratory trawling trip in a fishing boat. Sette immediately was fascinated with the variety of sea creatures caught in the fishing trawler's nets and decided to pursue a career as a fisheries scientist. The California State Fisheries Laboratory soon hired him to check canneries for albacore landings, beginning his career in fisheries science at the age of 18.
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