Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre


Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre is a marine research station established in 1972, located in Bamfield, Barkley Sound, British Columbia and run by the University of Victoria, the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, the University of Alberta, and the University of Calgary. The Centre hosts numerous public education programs in marine related science. BC Field Trips organizes many instructional and educational programs for school-aged children at the Centre. The Centre also runs courses for university students during the summer and during the fall through their affiliated universities.
The Centre is housed in the original building used as the western terminus of the British Empire's worldwide undersea cable called the All Red Line. Originally the site of the Pacific Cable Board Cable Station, which served as the eastern terminus of the trans-Pacific telegraph cable linking Canada to Fanning Island. The telegraph cable operated from 1901 to 1959.
The Centre also lends continued logistical support for Folger Passage and Barkley Sound with Ocean Networks Canada.
In April 2016, Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre and the Huu-ay-aht First Nations partnered with the Hakai Institute to launch a drone. The drone took a series of photos, which were then used to map portions of the Barkley Sound area.
On July 1, 2018, Dr. Sean Rogers, a biology instructor at the University of Calgary, was named director of the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre for a five-year term. Rogers has taught university courses at the Centre, and had been named acting director in 2016.