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Alexander D. Bajkov
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Fisheries biologist.
Born at Moscow, Russia on 27 July 1894, he graduated from the University of Moscow. During the First World War, he served in the Russian artillery, being captured at one point by the Bolsheviks and escaping on skis. He later served with the British Expeditionary Force as a Lieutenant with the Royal Field Artillery. After the war, he attended the University of Braunn in Czeckoslovakia, graduating in 1924.
He came to western Canada in November 1926 and worked on a Manitoba farm for the first winter. Through the intervention of Charles H. O'Donoghue, Professor of Zoology at the University of Manitoba, he was hired by the Biological Board of Canada and assigned with Ferris Neave to study the biological conditions of Maligne Lake in Jasper National Park. This resulted in the first successful stocking of the lake with trout. Over the next several years, he carried out pioneering studies of the environmental conditions in prairie lakes and the fish species inhabiting them.
Bajkov continued his studies at the University of Manitoba, receiving a Master of Science degree in 1927 and a PhD in 1931. In 1930, when the natural resources of Manitoba were transferred to provincial jurisdiction by the Canadian government, Bajkov was seconded by the Biological Board to study lakes in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, with his principal work being on Lake Winnipeg. He also investigated the stocking of fish in Clear Lake of Riding Mountain National Park.
In 1929 he established the first freshwater biological research station in Canada, at Gimli on Lake Winnipeg. He worked there during the summers of 1930, 1931 and 1932 using the schooner Breeze, which was lost with its crew of two in late 1933. Soon after, Bajkov left Manitoba to join the staff of the Dominion Biological Station at St. Andrew’s, New Brunswick. He later worked at a variety of sites in the United States, including Mississippi, Kentucky and Oregon, and he also worked at Churchill. Near the end of his life, he lived at Milwaukie, Oregon.
He died at Nanaimo, British Columbia on 25 September 1955. He is commemorated by the Alexander Bajkov Award given by the Lake Winnipeg Foundation to people who have worked to improve the water quality of Lake Winnipeg.
His scientific publications included the following:
Bajkov, A. c1927. Investigation of the Quill Lakes, Saskatchewan. Unpublished report to the Biological Board of Canada. 5, 20 p.
Bajkov, A. c1927. Plankton organisms collected in eastern Manitoba. Unpublished report to the Biological Board of Canada. 17. 1 p. (Biological Board of Canada. University of Manitoba)
Bajkov, A. c1927. Report on Clearwater Lake near The Pas, Hudson Bay Rly. Unpublished report to the Biological Board of Canada. 24, 131 p.
Bajkov, A. c1927. Report on the alkaline lakes of Saskatchewan. Unpublished report to the Biological Board of Canada. 21, 3 p.
Bajkov, A. 1927. Reports of the Jasper Park lakes investigations, 1925-26. I. The fishes. Contributions to Canadian Biology and Fisheries (new series). 3(16): 377-404. (University of Manitoba)
Bajkov, A. & Alan Mozley 1927. Some plankton organisms from Lake Brereton, Manitoba. Canadian Field-Naturalist 41: 84-85.
Bajkov, A. & Ferris Neave c1927. The lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens Rafinesque). Unpublished report to the Biological Board of Canada. 20, 31 p.
Bajkov, A. 1928. A preliminary report on the fishes of Hudson Bay drainage system. Canadian Field-Naturalist 42: 96-99. (Biological Board of Canada, University of Manitoba)
Bajkov, A. 1929. Description of a new whitefish (Coregonus odonoghuei) from Clear Lake, Riding Mountains, Man., Canada. Zoologischer Anzeiger 80(1/2): 1721. Biological Board of Canada, University of Manitoba)
Bajkov, A. 1929. Reports of the Jasper Park lakes investigations, 1925-26. VII. A study of the plankton. Contributions to Canadian Biology and Fisheries (new series). 4(24): 343-396. (University of Manitoba)
Neave, F. & A. Bajkov. 1929. Reports of the Jasper Park lakes investigations, 1925-26. V. Food and growth of Jasper Park fishes. Contributions to Canadian Biology and Fisheries (new series). 4(16): 197-219. (University of Manitoba)
Bajkov, A. 1930. Biological conditions of Manitoban lakes. Contributions to Canadian Biology and Fisheries (new series). 5(12): 381-422. (Biological Board of Canada)
Bajkov, A. 1930. Fishing industry and fisheries investigations in the Prairie provinces. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 60: 215-237, (Biological Board of Canada, University of Manitoba)
Bajkov, A. 1930. A study of the whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) in Manitoban lakes. Contributions to Canadian Biology and Fisheries (new series). 5(15): 441-455. (Biological Board of Canada, University of Manitoba)
Bajkov, A. & F. Neave. 1930. The sturgeon and sturgeon industry of Lake Winnipeg. Canadian Fisheries Manual 1930: 43-47. (Biological Board of Canada, University of Manitoba)
Bajkov, A. 1932. Fish populations and productivity of lakes. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 62: 307-316. (Biological Board of Canada)
Bajkov, A. 1932. The genus Leucichthys (ciscoes or tullibees) in Manitoban waters. Contributions to Canadian Biology and Fisheries (new series). 7(26): 325-333. (Biological Board of Canada)
Bajkov, A. 1932. Native game fish in Manitoba. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 62: 377-379. (Biological Board of Canada)
Bajkov, A. c1932. Whitefish population in the prairie lakes. UnpubIished report to the Biological Board of Canada. 7 p.
Bajkov, A. D. 1933. Description of two new whitefish from Manitoban waters. Internationale Revue der gesamten Hydrobiologie and Hydrographie 29(1/2): 29- 32. (Biological Board of Canada, University of Manitoba)
Bajkov, A. D. 1934. Examination of flooded area near Loch Lomond, May 9-12, 1934. Manuscript Reports of the Biological Stations (Biological Board of Canada). 202A: 5, 1 p. (Biological Board of Canada, St. Andrews Biological Station)
Bajkov, A. D. 1934. The plankton of Lake Winnipeg drainage system. Internationale Revue der gesamten Hydrobiologie and Hydrographie 31(3/4): 239-272. (University of Winnipeg)
Bajkov, A. D. c1934. A preliminary report on freshwater investigations carried out from the Atlantic Biological Station, St. Andrews, N.B. Manuscript Reports of the Biological Stations (Biological Board of Canada). 202: 8 p. (Biological Board of Canada, St. Andrews Biological Station)
Bajkov, A. D. 1935. A food study of Catostomis commersonnii fry from First Chamcook Lake, N.B. Manuscript Reports of the Biological Stations (Biological Board of Canada). 201C: 3,[6],5,[1]p. (Biological Board of Canada, St. Andrews Biological Station)
Bajkov, A. D. 1935. A food study of Fundulus disphanus from Chamcook Lakes, New Brunswick, Canada. Manuscript Reports of the Biological Stations (Biological Board of Canada). 201E: 4p. (Biological Board of Canada, St. Andrews Biological Station)
Bajkov, A. D. 1935. How to estimate the daily food consumption of fish under natural conditions. Manuscript Reports of the Biological Stations (Biological )Board of Canada). 200C: 3 p. (Biological Board of Canada, St. Andrews Biological Station)
Bajkov, A. D. 1935. How to estimate the daily food consumption of fish under natural conditions. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 65: 288-289. (Biological Board of Canada, St. Andrews Biological Station)
Bajkov, A. D. 1936. The distribution and feeding habits of Lake trout (Ristivomer Namayoush) in First Chamcook Lake, N.B. Canada. Manuscript Reports of the Biological Stations (Biological Board of Canada). 204B: 3 p. (Biological Board of Canada, St. Andrews Biological Station)
Bajkov, A. D. 1936. The distribution and food of landlocked salmon in Chamcook Lakes, N.B., Canada. Manuscript Reports of the Biological Stations; Biological Board of Canada). 200D: 5 p. (Biological Board of Canada, St. Andrews Biological Station)
Bajkov, A. D. 1936. A food study of two Chamcook Lake minnows: Notropis conrutus (Mitchill) and Couesius plumbeus (Agassiz). Manuscript Reports of the Biological Stations (Biological Board of Canada). 201D: 5 p. (Biological Board of Canada, St. Andrews Biological Station)
Bajkov, A. D. 1936. Further investigations of Chamcook Lakes, N.B., Canada. Manuscript Reports of the Biological Stations (Biological Board of Canada). 200A: 11 p. (Biological Board of Canada, St. Andrews Biological Station)
Bajkov, A. D. 1936. Investigations of smelt in Chamcook Lake, New Brunswick. Manuscript Reports of the Biological Stations (Biological Board of Canada). 201A: 6 p. (Biological Board of Canada, St. Andrews Biological Station)
Bajkov, A. D. c1936. Western Atlantic smelt (Osmerus eperlanus mordax (Mitchill) and its landlocked forms. Manuscript Reports of the Biological Stations (Biological Board of Canada). 201B: 6 p. (Biological Board of Canada, St. Andrews Biological Station)
Bajkov, A. D. 1949. Do fish fall from the sky? Science 109(2834): 402. (Oyster Laboratory, Louisiana Dept. of Wild Life and Fisheries)
Bajkov, A. D. 1949. A preliminary report on the Columbia River sturgeon. Fish Commission Research Briefs 2(2): 3-10. (Aquatic Biologist, Fish Commission of Oregon)
Bajkov, A. D. 1951. Migration of white sturgeon ( Acipenser transmontanus) in the Columbia River. Fish Commission Research Briefs 3(2): 8-21. (Aquatic Biologist, Fish Commission of Oregon)
“Fish expert is going east with Dominion staff,” Winnipeg Free Press, 14 October 1933, page 38.
Death registration, British Columbia Vital Statistics.
“Alexander Dimitrivitch Bajkov” [Obituary] by Ferris Neave, Progress Reports of the Pacific Coast Stations (Fisheries Research Board of Canada), volume 105, page 26, 1956.
“Alexander Dmitrovich Bajkov” pp. 134-135 In The Aquatic Explorers: A History of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada by K. Johnstone, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1977.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 15 November 2019
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