I was away for over a week, largely offline, and I was surprised upon returning that we didn't seem to have a thread celebrating the life of Dr Paul Loiselle, one of the great aquarist/scientists. He passed away a few days ago.
Paul was a generous man who treated this amateur aquarist respectfully, and as an equal. A lot of my knowledge came from reading his work, but he was never pretentious or arrogant around me, in spite of his great knowledge. Although he was an American, his family were Quebecois immigrants, and he liked coming north to keep his childhood French alive. He seemed genuinely interested in talking fish with all aquarists, new or experienced. He had a passion for the endangered fish species of Madagascar, and added a lot to our collective knowledge of those fishes.
His book on Cichlid keeping helped launch a popular corner of the hobby. Like all written work, on paper or online, his work was quickly dated by newer discoveries (some of which were his), but it's worth reading for his approach, and the knowledge within is easily updated by anyone who cares to learn.
I see the fishkeeping internet as a great mind with dementia. We are very busy forgetting our past, and our past sets the direction for the future. There is or was no greater generation of aquarists, and smart people just keep appearing. But we are losing the connection between researchers and aquarists. A lot of us want complex things to be simple, and run from the science. Dr Loiselle was a bridge - a true expert who chose to share his expertise with a public that wanted knowledge. Maybe the best way to honour the memory of people like him would be for use to raise our games and dig a little deeper into our knowledge based hobby. Go to conventions and listen to the speakers. Read the literature. Try to understand how the world of fish, ecology, conservation, climate, evolution and the sharing of knowledge work. You might find it to be fun. Paul V Loiselle certainly seemed to.
Paul was a generous man who treated this amateur aquarist respectfully, and as an equal. A lot of my knowledge came from reading his work, but he was never pretentious or arrogant around me, in spite of his great knowledge. Although he was an American, his family were Quebecois immigrants, and he liked coming north to keep his childhood French alive. He seemed genuinely interested in talking fish with all aquarists, new or experienced. He had a passion for the endangered fish species of Madagascar, and added a lot to our collective knowledge of those fishes.
His book on Cichlid keeping helped launch a popular corner of the hobby. Like all written work, on paper or online, his work was quickly dated by newer discoveries (some of which were his), but it's worth reading for his approach, and the knowledge within is easily updated by anyone who cares to learn.
I see the fishkeeping internet as a great mind with dementia. We are very busy forgetting our past, and our past sets the direction for the future. There is or was no greater generation of aquarists, and smart people just keep appearing. But we are losing the connection between researchers and aquarists. A lot of us want complex things to be simple, and run from the science. Dr Loiselle was a bridge - a true expert who chose to share his expertise with a public that wanted knowledge. Maybe the best way to honour the memory of people like him would be for use to raise our games and dig a little deeper into our knowledge based hobby. Go to conventions and listen to the speakers. Read the literature. Try to understand how the world of fish, ecology, conservation, climate, evolution and the sharing of knowledge work. You might find it to be fun. Paul V Loiselle certainly seemed to.
