Swimming With Fishes

At age 27, with a degree in Liberal Arts from Georgetown University, and without any scientific background, Bob Iversen decided to become a marine biologist by studying fisheries at the University of Hawaii. The U. S Navy had positioned him to do this by sending him to Hawaii after recalling him to active duty as a Petty Officer Third Class when the Korean War started in 1950.



While at the University of Hawaii he was a good student but when offered a job as a biological technician with the U. S. Bureau of Commercial Fisheries he said yes and started going to sea on the Bureau's small oceanographic research vessels. He studied the tuna species the laboratory was studying, especially the hearing ability of Yellowfin Tuna. He trained one to swim through a maze to get a reward after hearing sounds. After several decades as a marine biologist, Bob was seconded to the U. S. Embassy in Tokyo as Fisheries Attache for three years. Bob's various jobs, at sea and on shore introduced him to many unusual events that have become the 28 episodes in this book, including several shark stories.



He hopes that his career will be a spur to young men and women not to wait if they wish to become a marine biologist.