Dr. MOTODA Shigeru (1908-1995)

Dr. MOTODA Shigeru contributed greatly to the development of plankton research in Japan by teaching many students at the laboratory of Flotation Biology, Fisheries Science, School of Agriculture, Hokkaido University (in Sapporo) and the Flotation Biology, School of Fisheries Science, Hokkaido University (established in Hakodate in 1950), founding the Japan Plankton Research Association (now the Japanese Plankton Society) in 1952, and serving as its first president (Fig. 4).

After retiring from Hokkaido University in 1971, he taught at the School of Oceanography, Tokai University until his death in 1995 due to kidney failure.

Dr. Motoda has developed many instruments for plankton research (Fig. 5) with his outstanding ideas and artistic sense. The essence of the instruments developed by Dr. Motoda is that they are simple machines that work reliably, and they are used in various ways in plankton research today.

Among the plankton research instruments that Dr. Motoda has made, the most famous and still commonly used are such as:

・NORPAC net（North Pacific Standard net）

・Motoda Plankton Splitter

・MTD Horizontal Net（MTD net）

・Aspirator for wet weight

・angle board

Laboratory logo (left) and signboard (right) designed by Dr. Motoda