The Fishy Smiths

by Mike Bruton

  Margaret also facilitated the development of a research programme on anguillid (freshwater) eels in Grahamstown, which was initiated by Peter Castle and David Forrest in 1973 and continued by PN Hine, Robin Stobbs, Peter Jackson, Martin Davies and others until 1983, as these fish were thought at the time to have aquaculture potential. This research programme led directly to the establishment of the Experimental Fish Farm adjacent to the Ichthyology Institute, which was officially opened by Dr Derek Henderson, Vice-Chancellor of Rhodes University and Chairman of the Board of the Ichthyology Institute, in September 1985 and was managed by Martin Davies until 2016, when it was discontinued.

  Comet, Calloplesiops altivelis, drawn by Margaret Smith for The Sea Fishes of Southern Africa book (1949).

  In 1984 Margaret underwent surgery to relieve pain in her knee caused by an old hockey injury sustained in her schooldays, exacerbated by arthritis. She stayed with Mike and Mary-Louise Penrith in Pretoria at the time of the operation and told them:

  ‘… it was very painful and that she was totally ashamed of herself, because it was so sore that she had actually sworn at the physiotherapist, a thing that she had never done to anybody in her life before! The physiotherapist reassured her that most of the patients swear at them but it didn’t comfort her at all, she felt that she had let herself down badly’ (M-L Penrith, pers. comm., 2017).

  Unfortunately, the operation did not solve the problem as the pain became worse and she was eventually confined to a wheelchair from June 1986 onwards. This handicap did not soften her resolve to remain actively involved in ichthyology and the Institute. It was a common sight to see Margaret arrive at work in her old blue Ford Cortina, when Edward Matama, the Collection Manager, would rush out, unpack the wheelchair, and help her into it. Nick James, an MSc student in ichthyology in 1985/6, recalls:

  ‘Margaret used to cruise the three floors of the JLBSI building in her wheelchair, going between floors in the lift, but had to yield road space for the much faster skateboard of Michelle Hoebeke, one of the 1985 Honours students who was known to suddenly arrive around a corner at high speed on two wheels!’.

  Margaret resorted to taking large doses of cortisone to relieve the pain so that she could continue her work (W Smith, 1996) but the drug impaired her immune system and, in the last two years of her life (1986–1987), she was plagued by illness (Gon, 1996). William Smith believes that the excessive cortisone injections that Margaret took hastened her demise.

  Consequently, by 1986, Heemstra had taken over all her work, but she continued to show a keen interest in the progress of the book. Fortunately, she survived to see it published in September 1986.

  Ofer Gon and Eric Anderson.

  In 1982, Ofer Gon from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem had been appointed to assist Margaret and Phil with the Sea Fishes revision. Ofer has also had a distinguished career at the Institute, publishing numerous papers and chapters in books and also co-editing with Phil Heemstra the pioneering compendium Fishes of the Southern Ocean (Gon & Heemstra, 1990) on the fishes of the circum-Antarctic Southern Ocean. Ofer was appointed lead researcher, with Phil acting as co-editor, bringing to bear his vast experience in producing Smiths’ Sea Fishes.

  Like the Sea Fishes book, Fishes of the Southern Ocean3 was a major, multi-national undertaking that took seven years to complete. Thirty-two ichthyologists from 11 countries contributed 49 family revisions and 272 species accounts, 179 of which were illustrated by Dave Voorvelt, 163 in ink drawings and 16 in colour paintings. It was the first book on Antarctic fishes since JR Norman’s (1938) classic, Coast Fishes, Part III – The Antarctic Zone, published over 50 years earlier.

  The completion of Smiths’ Sea Fishes and Fishes of the Southern Ocean further enhanced the Institute’s international reputation and laid to rest any reservations that the CSIR or the University might have had about the wisdom of retaining the Institute in Grahamstown, or of appointing Margaret as its first Director. The Institute had, in fact, gained in stature during her term at the helm, and augmented its status as a major contributor to international ichthyology. In 1996 Ofer Gon reported that Institute scientists had described 446 fish species and subspecies as new to science, in addition to the 43 new species described by JLB Smith between 1931 and 1945, and that the number of marine fish species known from South Africa had more than doubled over the past 50 years. The Institute had also expanded the geographical range of its work from southern Africa to the Western Indian Ocean and Antarctica.

  Drawing of a scaly dragonfish, Stomias gracilis, by Dave Voorvelt for the Fishes of the Southern Ocean.

  Alan Whitfield, who developed research on estuarine fishes in the Ichthyology Institute.

  In the realm of inland waters, Institute staff also completed detailed studies of the fishes of estuaries, rivers, floodplains, lakes, swamps and lagoons throughout southern Africa. In this way the tentacles of the Ichthyology Institute had gradually spread, and the impact of the Smith legacy been felt far and wide.

  Donations of major fish collections were made to the Institute (both before and after the JLB Smith Institute of Ichthyology had been established) thanks largely to the collaborative partnerships that the Smiths established. Today it forms South Africa’s ‘National Collection of Fishes’ and, with the Institute’s expanded mandate as the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB) since 2001, the collection has been extended to include all aquatic organisms. It is, by far, the largest fish collection in Africa and one of the best in the world.

  The rapid growth of the Ichthyology Institute in the 1970s placed a severe strain on the financial resources of Rhodes University, with the annual cost of the Institute representing about 80% of the government’s research subsidy to the university. In her 1974/75 annual report Margaret Smith stated:

  ‘My greatest preoccupation … is lack of sufficient funds to run the Institute. Despite practising every economy I find our present grants are inadequate. Salaries have rocketed, printing, books, and paper, chemicals, office and laboratory ware – everything, in fact, has increased so incredibly in price that it is imperative to find more money for the Institute.’

  Despite the Director’s best efforts, the Institute went into debt in 1976 and some staff had to be retrenched in 1977 to reduce costs (Gon, 2002). The Institute’s Council, and Rhodes University, sprang into action and convinced the government that the expansion of the Institute, the quality of its fish collection, library and research publications, and the international impact of its research, justified its being established as a National Museum. These successful approaches led to its establishment, on 1st April 1980, by the South African government as a Declared Cultural Institution under the Department of National Education (Henderson, 1996), effectively a National Museum. Margaret Smith and Derek Henderson, assisted by this author, were the driving force behind the move, which made the Institute an autonomous body, independent of Rhodes University, yet retaining close and cordial links with it.

  In view of this new relationship it became necessary to establish a teaching department of ichthyology within the university. The task was undertaken by this author, then Senior Lecturer in Ichthyology, in collaboration with Margaret Smith. She had always shown a keen interest in the work of the students, often attending and commenting on their seminars. Her kind and generous nature also resulted in her helping many students who found themselves in financial or emotional difficulties.

  Peter Jackson (1987, 1996) had this to say:

  ‘… the amount of good she [Margaret] did by stealth was apparent only to those who knew her closely. Nobody with a hard-luck story was turned away … She helped innumerable people with school fees or books, she lent large sums of money without interest to those needing a down payment on a house. If something was needed and could not otherwise be got she would dip into her pockets, and never say a word.’

  According to Nancy Tietz (pers. comm., 2017), Margaret was ‘always thoughtful, generous to a fault, encouraging’. Nick Jam
es (pers. comm., 2016) remembers her as ‘a warm person who was interested in people at all levels of society’. Ishbel and Ian Sholto-Douglas remember that when they moved to Grahamstown with their five children in 1972, Margaret ‘adopted the children as her own and was a very attentive aunt. She adored the kids and liked to talk to them one-on-one to find out about their interest and activities’ (I Sholto-Douglas, pers. comm., 2016). In contrast, when Ian and Ishbel had visited the Smiths while JLB was still alive, they were told not to bring the children as JLB did not like kids.

  The story of the eccentric Welshman, Martin Davies, who arrived in Grahamstown on 1st February 1976, is an example of Margaret’s kindness and generosity. He had initially contacted Margaret from the Tsitsikamma National Park, where he was working on intertidal energetics, and enquired whether he could do some research on fish farming in the Ichthyology library before going on to farm oysters in Kenya. He hitchhiked to Grahamstown with ‘no money, no friends and no prospects’ (M Davies, pers. comm., 2016). Margaret welcomed him, accommodated him at her house for four months, organised a salary of R200/month, signed surety on his debts, encouraged him to start a fish farm at the Ichthyology Institute, and subsequently arranged for him to be employed on the eel research project. He is still in Grahamstown, 42 years later!

  Although Margaret was very supportive of Davies’ and others’ ventures, and was generous with her own money, she was extremely frugal with the Institute’s budget. She tended to spend lavishly on research, buying books for the library, field trips and curation, but cut back on staff salaries and benefits. She was well off at that stage and voluntarily accepted a low salary as Director, and expected others to do likewise. This policy was perpetuated by the equally thrifty chairman of the Institute’s Council, Derek Henderson, to Davies’ cost (and that of other colleagues).

  In 1980 Margaret Smith was appointed, at the age of 64 years, as a one-person commission to investigate the so-called ‘Shad Ban’ in KwaZulu-Natal; this appointment was an indication of the esteem in which she was held in ichthyological circles at the time. Shad, or elf (Pomatomus saltatrix) is an important angling fish in the area. The commission later became the three-person ‘Smith Committee of Inquiry’ whose brief was to make recommendations to the Administrator regarding restrictions on the capture of shad in the nearshore waters of KwaZulu-Natal. The inquiry became necessary after a long-term research programme conducted by a highly respected ichthyologist, Rudy van der Elst of the Oceanographic Research Institute in Durban, had shown that there had been a decline in the catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE, an indirect measure of fish abundance) and the average size of elf.

  Margaret Smith at a fish-tagging prize-giving event in Durban at the time of the ‘Shad Ban’ inquiry.

  The other members of the Committee of Inquiry were Dr Garth Newman, a statistician from the Department of Sea Fisheries in Cape Town, and Professor Phillip van der Watt, Professor of Mathematical Statistics at Rhodes University, with RI Leisegang acting as secretary. Those who gave evidence or made comments during the two-day inquiry included conservation agency administrators, conservationists, shore and skiboat anglers, divers, commercial and subsistence fishermen, marine biologists, ichthyologists and fisheries scientists.

  The inquiry became quite fiery at times and Margaret had to use all her tact and guile to keep the discussions rational and on track. Some extracts from the commission’s 450-page, three-volume report, entitled ‘Smith Committee of Inquiry into the Restriction on the Taking of Shad (Elf) in the Nearshore Waters of Natal’, published in February 1981, provide an insight into Margaret’s way of dealing with awkward people and difficult decision-making, and her use of humour to break the ice. The report also provides insights into some of the arcane yet important issues with which ichthyologists are involved. Although Margaret does make some remarks that would be considered today to be ‘politically incorrect’, her forthright yet empathetic attitude did ensure that everyone had their say and that the discussions were fruitful. These notes also indicate the extent to which Margaret had become involved in fish conservation issues, to a far greater extent than JLB Smith, and they give examples of how she frequently referred to her husband’s work after his death.

  The shad, Pomatomus saltatrix, a political fish?

  Her deference to her late husband is clear:

  ‘This is called the Smith Committee of Inquiry, it is in part a tribute to my husband as well, I worked with him for over 30 years as you know, but perhaps what some of you don’t know is that his favourite angling fish was the elf or shad, as you call it here, and so I know how to catch them, I know how to hunt them, I know how to cook them, I know how to eat them, and my sympathies are with you people as well as with the fish itself’ (pages 1, 2).

  After a comment by Mike Bloxham (page 17) that ‘the shad ban is political as well’, she argued:

  ‘Political Mr Bloxham? Could you explain that? I have never met a political fish before, in fact the fish have managed to combine all the political parties. … I mean if a politician wants to go fishing, surely that’s not a political fish? I mean this is the first time in my experience I have ever heard of political fish, and the shad most certainly doesn’t look to me like a Progressive Party or a United Party or anything like that, I mean to be a bit frivolous, but quite honestly I am very interested in this because I cannot understand how the protection of an animal can be political’ (page 19). … if an animal dies it’s not political, if it becomes extinct it’s not political. What is political, is that the powers that be have not taken the necessary precautions to stop that animal from being killed and becoming extinct …’

  Margaret had this to say in acknowledgement of our growing plunder of the oceans:

  ‘This [is] very pertinent you know, throughout the whole world, because there was a time when the fishes in the sea were limitless, we could do what we liked with the sea, we could dump waste in it; we have suddenly been brought up within the last 20 years, we were brought up short, you can’t do that sort of thing’ (page 117).

  And on the role of scientists:

  ‘Scientists disagree, we fight like mad, just as everybody else does; it’s good for us, it makes us tow the line. You know that if you put your foot out of line, someone else is going to tramp on it hard, and that is what keeps us up to scratch’ (page 207).

  ‘In fact I remember my husband saying once that a businessman hides his mistakes in the bank balance, but a Scientist publishes his for everyone to see’ (page 220).

  There were light-hearted times in the midst of what was a serious inquiry. One of the witnesses, Anthony (‘Ticky’) Forbes, together with Aldo Berruti, found themselves in the same restaurant (an Italian joint in lower West Street) as Margaret Smith, who was dining with her publisher, who happened to be an Italian. Margaret’s guest knew that the restaurant owner, also an Italian, was a skilled piano accordionist, and he was also aware of Margaret’s singing ability. The result – a memorable and boisterous soirée, with Margaret singing at the top of her voice and the restaurateur accompanying her, much to the delight of the diners!

  The Committee’s ultimate recommendation that restrictions should be imposed on shad catches, through closed seasons and/or bag limits, would be the first catch restrictions for a popular angling fish in South Africa.

  Margaret served on various other committees and boards, including the Transkei Environmental Advisory Board, and a national committee on the advisability of using electric barriers to protect bathers on KwaZulu-Natal beaches from shark attacks.

  The high public profile of the Smiths4 in their later years tended to lend them an air of moral authority in the eyes of the public, which encouraged many public-spirited organisations to seek their help or endorsement on issues such as coastal pollution, the immorality of fishing competitions or the need to conserve Africa’s coastline (Gon, 2002).

  They happily obliged and this public-spiritedness, on top of their earlier contributions to ichthyology, rendered their i
nput immeasurable.

  1The Quirimbas Archipelago Marine National Park was established in 2002 and comprises part of the Mozambique mainland coast as well as the islands of Ibo, Matemo, Quilalea, Medjumbe, Quirimba and Vamizi, and the ocean in between.

  2Malcom Smale relates another story about Jack when he was collecting over a remote reef with only a boatman to assist him. He came up and asked for the last bottle full of air for his decompression but was told that he had used it up; so he was forced to suck each and every bottle dry as he underwent decompression. His long-term diving buddy Gerry Allen told us around a fire one evening at Sodwana about a dive that they had done together off a remote seamount with no-one to mind the boat. From a depth of about 30 metres they heard a scraping noise and then silence, and realised that their anchor had broken loose. They ascended as quickly as possible but, by the time they reached the surface, the boat had already drifted away to the far horizon. Gerry, a strong swimmer, swam after it for hours, retrieved the boat, and then returned to miraculously rescue Jack in the open ocean after dark!

  3In June 1992 the State President, FW de Klerk, presented a deluxe copy of the Fishes of the Southern Ocean to Emperor Akihito of Japan during a state visit to South Africa. The book was illustrated with an original painting by Dave Voorvelt that depicted two species of fish that had been described as new to science by the Emperor, an ichthyologist and an expert on gobies.

  4Margaret was so well-known that she received letters from local and foreign anglers and ichthyologists that were simply addressed to, ‘Prof Margaret Smith, South Africa’! JLB once received a letter addressed to ‘Dr Smith, Icthyologist (Coelacanth Discoverer), South Africa’.