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Gallery: Torry Research Station and its world-leading work in fish science

We've gone through our archives and taken a look at the vital government work carried out at Torry Research Station since the 1930s.

1978: Senior scientific officer Ian McDonald (right) shows one of the butterfly fillets from the new Baader 121 processing machine for blue whiting and other types of fish. Image: DC Thomson
1978: Senior scientific officer Ian McDonald (right) shows one of the butterfly fillets from the new Baader 121 processing machine for blue whiting and other types of fish. Image: DC Thomson

Torry Research Station was recognised as one of the world’s leading research institutions for its work in fish handling and processing.

The government laboratory was founded in Aberdeen in 1931 with an important job – to investigate better ways to preserve fish.

And being a traditional fishing community, Torry was the perfect location for this vital work commissioned by the government’s Cold Storage Research Board.

Torry Research Station helped improve on food storage problems relating to the preservation and quality of fish, eliminating waste and reducing cost.

The lab expanded its research capabilities by taking on the National Collection of Industrial Bacteria in 1959.

Latterly its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food before it eventually closed in 1996.

We lift the lid on the goings on at Torry Research Station with some snaps of its important role in fish science.

Pictures: Torry Research Station over the years

1990: Torry Research Station celebrated its diamond jubilee and Aberdeen artist Eric Auld was commissioned to paint a view from the north side of the harbour. It was presented to vice-president Jack Graham, left, and director Geoffrey Hobbs.
1979: Sample kippers being put on a trolley at Torry Research Station following a night’s soak in brine by David Chittleburgh, left, and Jack Ritchie.
1981:Dr Ian Mackie and Alexander Ritchie discuss a readout from an amino acid analyser at Torry Research Station.
1979: Alf Fidler, supervisor in charge of the fish section, and Brian Wiggins, tank attendant, remove one of the large cod which are kept alive for experimental purposes.
1982: Angus MacKenzie placing glass capsules into a freeze-drier. Torry Research Station held the National Collections of Industrial and Marine Bacteria for almost a quarter of a century to further the causes of research and education in industry and biotechnology, and to make the bacteria available to laboratories all over the world.
1959: Commonwealth newspaper reporters during a visit to the laboratory watching sea anemones being fed in the research aquarium.
1979: Alf Fidler pictured through a trolley of fish bound for the cold store at Torry Research Station.
1979: Bill Hodgkiss, principal scientific officer, and Marion Middleton, assistant scientific officer in microscopy, at work with the Transmission Electron Microscope.
1979: Higher scientific officer Gordon Hill tries a trial batch of herring through the station-designed quick air blast freezer ahead of Torry Research Station’s 50th anniversary.
16 July 1979: Alf Fidler, supervisor of the fish section with the Greyson deep sea crab at Torry Research Station.

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