In Memoriam – Bernie Hanby
by Sheila Byers
Bernie Hanby was a wonderful, knowledgeable, fun-loving, quick-witted and energetic man. He befriended many people who, like himself, enjoyed fishing, SCUBA-diving, photography and those who strived for better conservation efforts to protect fish and their habitats in the ocean. We need action to ensure the long-term sustainability of a marine food source on which we greatly depend. From fisherman to informed activist, Bernie was a driving force for MLSS, Vancouver Aquarium, Pacific Salmon Foundation and many other organizations.
I was deeply saddened to receive the news from Bernie’s family on Saturday, November 25, that Bernie had passed away. I had visited him at the North Shore Hospice a week before and became aware then that he was not long for this world. I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to spend that time with him and to express my appreciation for all the work that he had done to protect marine life, especially that of the BC salmon and rockfish species.
I was first introduced to Bernie by Andy Lamb in 1999. Andy was the School Program Coordinator of the Wet Lab at the Vancouver Aquarium when I began volunteering there in 1999. I had moved back to Vancouver from Toronto in 1997 and was anxious to get involved with marine enthusiasts. Both avid divers and friends, Andy and Bernie were working on a ‘photographic encyclopedia’ of local marine life. Andy was aware that I specialized in the taxonomy of marine worms for many years, so they asked me to identify the marine worms in the photos that Bernie had taken on their expeditions. In 2001, I spent many hours at Bernie’s house looking at hundreds of his slides with a magnifying lens and light box. Some 80 species were identified, and with some interesting tidbits of natural history, included in the book, Marine Life of the Pacific Northwest, published by Harbour Publishing in 2005. After many printings, the popular book continues to expand with the addition of new species’ entries and can be accessed through https://www.knowbc.com.
In 2002, I joined the Marine Biology Section of the Vancouver Natural History Society (now known as Nature Vancouver). Bernie also joined the Society that year and quickly was nominated, and awarded, the Davidson Award for Conservation in 2003. Bernie well-represented the intent of this award: “to recognize achievements by Society members in (the field of) conservation”, and was established in honour of the founder of the Society in 1918, Professor John Davidson, a vocal conservation advocate. Bernie was tactful and polite but made no bones about challenging and expressing his concerns about man’s lack of care and protection for marine life.
Bernie was very active on the Board of many Societies including the Vancouver Aquarium where he served on the Conservation and Education Committee for years. He also provided the Aquarium access to his many excellent marine life photographs. As I write this, I am looking at nine of his marine worm images hanging on my office wall, a small example of BC’s worm diversity.
But perhaps more relevant to my continued friendship with Bernie (and the several articles on glass sponge reefs written for the Nature Vancouver Discovery Journal*) was due to my joining the Marine Life Sanctuaries Society. I became Secretary of MLSS in 2007. At that time, Bernie was President of the charitable, non-profit Society and lived not far from Eagle Harbour where he moored his boat, and Whytecliffe Park, a popular SCUBA-diving and spearfishing site in Howe Sound. Bernie and Andy were two of the founding members of MLSS in 1990. Their first major conservation success, and first Marine Protected Area (MPA) in Canada, was established at Whytecliff Park in 1993. The primary purpose of gaining MPA status was to protect the long-lived rockfishes in particular that were in rapid decline from overharvesting.
Four of the MLSS founding members in the photograph attended the small celebratory event organized by MLSS on July 23 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the MPA. [ https://mlssbc.com/about-us/marine-life-sanctuaries ]. The small but timely event and conversation around the founding of MLSS with these key members was recorded.
Bernie and Andy continued to support MLSS as Directors-at-Large. In 2019 and 2022, the MLSS team (with collaborative partners) achieved Marine Refuge Conservation Area designation (fisheries closures) for 13 glass sponge reefs in Howe Sound to mitigate and protect the sponge reefs from damage caused by bottom-contact fishing gear. Protection for these important ecosystems was slow to come and took years of effort, but we were all thrilled with our accomplishments, but no one more than Bernie and Andy.
Bernie and I kept in close contact by phone over the past few years, but we especially enjoyed our occasional lunch at the Beach House in West Vancouver where we caught-up on conservation newsand MLSS activities, commiserated on various ailments, laughed and joked together, totally enjoying each other’s company.
After personal health delays in the Spring, I was finally in a position to contact Bernie to set another date for lunch, not knowing that Bernie himself was going through some changes, moving and health related. There will remain an empty space in my heart for his joie de vivre, humour, love, his friendship and passion to protect rockfishes and salmon. With his passion, he was ‘no small fish’ in the BC world of marine life conservation and I feel honoured to have known him.