Bell M. Shimada

Bell Masayuki Shimada (, January 17, 1922 - June 2, 1958) was an American fisheries scientist. He is noted for his study during the 1950s of tuna stocks in the tropical Pacific Ocean and its important effect on the development of the post-World War II tuna fishery on the United States West Coast.

Biography

Early life Shimada was born in Seattle, Washington, on January 17, 1922, to Japanese immigrant parents.

Military service In May 1943, Shimada was permitted to leave the camp and enlist in the United States Army as an infantryman Sette organized and directed POFI according to this vision.

Personal life

Allen and Julie Shimada, at the commissioning ceremony for the ship named for their father, NOAAS Bell M. Shimada (R 227), in 2010.

While working with POFI in Hawaii between 1948 and 1952, Shimada met and married the former Rae M. Shimojima,

Commemoration

Although Shimada died at the age of 36 and his fisheries science career lasted only 12 years, at the time of his death the fisheries science community already viewed his contributions as so significant to both the scientific understanding of the Pacific tuna fishery and to the post-World War II development of that fishery on the U.S. West Coast that the Proceedings from the Symposium on "The Changing Pacific Ocean in 1957 and 1958" were dedicated to him, as well as to Townsend Cromwell.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research ship NOAAS Bell M. Shimada (R 227) is named in honor of Shimada. A team of students from Marina High School in Marina, California, that suggested the name won a regional NOAA contest to name the vessel. In a speech at the ship's launching ceremony on September 26, 2008, Shimada's daughter Julie said, "I hope the Bell M. Shimada is a lasting testament that no life is too short, no career too brief, no contribution too small, to make a difference." The ship was commissioned into the NOAA fleet on August 25, 2010.