Phil Pister Explained

Edwin Philip Pister
Birth Date:	15 January 1929
Birth Place:	Stockton, California, U.S.
Death Place:	Bishop, California, U.S.
Occupation:	Fishery biologist, conservationist, deep ecologist
Nationality:	American
Subject:	Desert fishes, conservation, environmental ethics

Edwin Philip Pister (January 15, 1929 – January 17, 2023) was an American fishery biologist who worked for California Department of Fish and Game.^[1] He was a pioneer of desert fish conservation, and is credited with saving the Owens pupfish (Cyprinodon radiosis) by transferring the entire remaining population into several buckets and transporting them to a safe location.^{[2] [3]}

Pister was born in Stockton, California and lived in Bishop, California. A volume compiling studies of desert fishes has been published in his honor.^[4] He has written and published scientific and popular papers and has also written about environmental ethics.^[5]

Pister helped found the non-profit Desert Fishes Council in 1969, serving as its first president, then as its Executive Secretary until his death.^[6]

Audio interviews of him are available in the Bancroft Library at University of California, Berkeley^[7]

Pister died in Bishop, California on January 17, 2023, two days after his 94th birthday.^[8]

Awards

• Order of the Jassid (for conservation) from Sierra Pacific Flyfishers
• President's Fishery Conservation Award from the American Fisheries Society
• The Edward T. LaRoe III Memorial Award from the Society for Conservation Biology.
• 2018 Andrea Lawrence Award from the Mono Lake Committee.^[9]

Notes and References

1. News: Roberts. Rich. Fish Came First : Phil Pister Didn't Make a Lot of Friends, but He Made a Mark in 37 Years at DFG. Los Angeles Times. 1 August 1990.
2. Pister, E. P. Species in a bucket. Natural History Magazine (January 1993). pg 14. Retrieved October 27, 2021.
3. Terrill, C. "Islands". In: Albert, S. W. What Wildness is This: Women Write About the Southwest. University of Texas Press. (2007). pg 129. Retrieved September 29, 2011.
4. Book: Studies of North American Desert Fishes in Honor of E.P.(Phil) Pister Conservationist . November 2006 . Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo Leon . 970-694-336-6 . Ma. De Lourdes Lozano-Vilano . Monterrey, Mexico . Armando J. Contreras-Balderas . 22979888M .
5. Pister . E. Phil . The Rights of Species and Ecosystems . Fisheries . 1995 . 20 . 4 . 2006-04-25 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20060822184859/http://www.nativefish.org/articles/Fish_Rights.php . August 22, 2006 . mdy-all.
6. .Web site: Springer. Craig. Pioneers: Edwin "Phil" Pister. Fish and Aquatic Conservation. US Fish and Wildlife Service. 9 May 2015.
7. Book: Phil Pister, An Oral History . January 23, 2023.
8. News: Biologist Phil Pister — who singlehandedly saved species from extinction — dead at 94 . 17 November 2023 . NPR . 26 January 2023.
9. News: Andrea Lawrence Award Dinner. 5 May 2018. www.monolake.org.