TWENTY-FIFTH ANNUAL EASTERN FISH HEALTH WORKSHOP MARCH 10-13, 2000     The Oxford Laboratory: Twenty-five Years and Beyond     Frederick G. Kern   NOAA, National Ocean Service, National Center for Coastal Ocean Science, Center for Coastal Environmental Health  and Biomolecular Research, Cooperative Oxford Laboratory, Oxford, MD     In 1975 when the first Eastern Fish Health Workshop (EFHW) was held, the Oxford Laboratory was already fifteen years old. The research programs had moved to Oxford in 1960 from Annapolis under the administration of the U.S. Department of Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Commercial Fisheries. The programs, under the leadership of Mr. James B. Engle began to expand. Old tables, chairs, and cinder block shelving turned into lab benches and modern equipment. The impetus for the expansion was the decline of the oyster industry. Until this time there were very few studies in the pathology of a disease in marine resources. All of a sudden research was being applied  on oysters in the fields of pathology, microbiology, genetics, tissue culture, immunology, ultrastructure, ecology, and behavior. It was a massive explosion of the sciences in the study of oyster research. This rush of science expanded to the studies of other marine species. It expanded our horizons past the Chesapeake Bay, to both coast of the United States, Europe and Asia.  Dr. Carl Sindermann took the lead in directing this expansion followed by Dr. Arthur Merrill and Dr. Aaron Rosenfield.  Aaron was the director of the Laboratory when the first EFHW was held, and cosponsored the meeting for a number of years after that initial meeting.  By the time the first EFHW was held,the laboratory had changed bureaucratic hands, having been transferred in 1970 to the newly formed U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Marine Fisheries Service. NOAA is now celebrating its 30th anniversary.  Many things have changed in the twenty five years since the first EFHW meeting, at both laboratories. Staffs have changed, a few of us remain and many are gone. I followed Dr. Rosenfield in the directorship and seven years later Dr. Park served as director for four years before retiring last year.  Our labs still interact occasionally. I still think of “the Leetown Lab” as our freshwater cousin. Many of the same things that have impacted our operations have impacted them.  Thanks to Dr. Rocco Cipriano, the “Eastern” has been revived. Beginning with the Hurricane meeting at VIMS to this twenty fifth meeting, I’ve seen a steady increase and expansion of interest in the workshop. New things are happening again at Oxford.  While still under NOAA, we are now a part of the National Ocean Service, at the Center for Coastal Environmental Health and Biomolecular Research in Charleston, South Carolina.  New beginnings built on a solid past.     Return to 25th Annual Eastern Fish Health Workshop Return to Leetown Science Center Home Page