Cardinal Chronicle
HOPKINS MARINE STATION IS
ONLY 90 MILES south on Monterey Bay, but it's worlds away
from the bustle of university life. Hopkins offers
experiences found nowhere on the Farm:
BUSTED! CALIFORNIA FISH
AND GAME WARDENS were thrilled when folks at the marine
station recently spotted two men illegally catching
rockfish with spear guns right under their noses. Dive
Officer FREYA SOMMER says the fish are
easy to catch because they like to hang out in the rocky,
shallow area but, unlike elsewhere in the bay, they are
protected in the marine refuge. Hopkins' librarian JOE
WIBLE saw the poachers and staff photographer CHRIS
PATTON shot the men with a digital camera
through a telescope in the library, and the Coast Guard
caught them red-handed. The poachers were fined about
$600 and had their catch and spear guns confiscated.
Wible says that the public may enter the refuge but no
one is allowed to disturb anything even a kayaker
scaring a harbor seal off a rock is a no-no.
THIS COPY OF A
HAND-PAINTED SIGN WRITTEN by a Japanese civilian hangs on
the wall of the Agassiz building at Hopkins in Pacific
Grove. On Sept. 2, 1945, a U.S military unit found the
message posted on the door of the University of Tokyo
Marine Biological Station located at a midget submarine
base in Moroisi Ko, Japan:
"This is a marine
biological station with her history of over sixty years.
If you are from the Eastern Coast, some of you might know
Woods Hole or Mt Desert or Tortugas. If you are from the
West Coast you may know Pacific Grove or Puget Sound
Biological Station. This place is a place like one of
these. Take care of this place and protect the
possibility for the continuation of our peaceful
research. You can destroy weapons and war instruments but
save the civil equipments for Japanese students. When you
are through with your job here notify to the university
and let us come back to our scientific home. The last one
to go, KATSUMA DAN."
U.S. troops left the
station intact.
"WE HAVE A GROWING
DEER PROBLEM," SAYS GEORGE SOMERO,
acting director of Hopkins. For downright deer
brazenness, the station's four-legged inhabitants beat
SLAC's faunal population hooves down. The animals know
that the humans won't hurt them as they graze on the
station's landscaping and leave scat pellets as calling
cards. The 11-acre property is home to two bucks, three
does and five fawns. Sometimes the critters get ornery
but most of the time they hang out peacefully, taking in
the timeless beauty of Monterey Bay.
Write to Lisa Trei at lisatrei@leland or mail code 2245.
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