Dr. Sc.  NIKOLA FIJAN,  DVM

Professor Emeritus

( 1931 – 2009 )

Nikola Fijan passed away on 29. July 2009.

He was born on the fish farm ˝Poljana˝, Croatia, where his father was the general manager. He followed in his father's steps- graduated in 1950 at the classical high school in Zagreb and then continued to study at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of the Veterinary Medicine.

His main point of interest had been, from the very beginning, the fisheries- fish farming and fish biology and health. In 1957 he graduated there and in 1958 started to work at the Department for Biology and Pathology of Fish and Bees at the same Faculty where he also got his Ph.D. degree in 1959.

After several long and short term specialization courses in Poland and Israel he was appointed as full professor from 1978 till his retirement in 1993, serving in the meantime several terms as the head of the Department. The University of Zagreb awarded him the professor emeritus status.

He worked as the visiting professor at the Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama and the University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff, Arkansas for 7 years. He spent two years in Brazil and had several long or short assignments in India, Thailand, Hungary and Rome, acting as expert of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Dr. Fijan was also the consultant/expert of World Health Organization (WHO) and was engaged at executive positions at several international organizations for fisheries (European Inland Fisheries Advisory Commission- EIFAC, Permanent Commission for the Study of Fish Diseases (OIE) and the International Union of Nutritional Sciences (IUNS).

His published work opus contains 350 units - scientific research papers, books, chapters in encyclopedias, manuals, texts for students, vocational and popular articles, reviews, published lectures, instructions for fish farmers, research and other activity reports and investment projects written in Croatian, English, German, Portuguese, Polish and Hebrew. They were published with him as a single author or as a coauthor with numerous Croatian and over 60 international scientists.

His chapters in two eminent books on fish diseases in English as well as his own capital work in Croatian- Zaštita zdravlja riba- Fish Health Protection- in 2006, represent the considerable contribution to the knowledge in this particular field.

He has been the most cited author from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb. Only during the last three years his citations exceeded 120 which proves the actual values even of his earlier works.

His most cited work is on the description of properties of EPC cells which are used today in all laboratories for diagnostics and research of fish diseases world wide. He is the only Croatian scientist who together with his coworkers isolated and described three new viruses, two in Croatia and one in the USA.

His main goal in research was to apply his results in his further innovative scientific and professional projects. He was nationally and internationally recognized as a scientist who considerably improved the aquaculture both at home and abroad and helped fish farmers and beekeepers to upgrade their professional skills to more modern level.

He founded three viral laboratories for fish diseases at home and abroad and made projects for new or improved technologies in fish farming in Croatia and Brazil such as in induced spawning of herbivorous fish, common carp and European catfish, then in water recirculation in warm water spawning facilities, treatment of fish diseases by bathing or with medicated pellet feeds, in new approach to fishpond fertilization and in introduction of pond poly- culture. With his coworkers he carried out the first experiment in marine cage fish farming in Croatia.

His teaching activities include courses for undergraduate and graduate students of veterinary medicine and applied biology in fish and bee diseases and aquaculture both at his home country and abroad. He was also the leader of some short training programs for fellows from foreign countries.

He received numerous awards in his country (The Croatian National Annual Award for Research Achievements in Biological Sciences in 1990) and abroad and was decorated in France (Silver Medal of Honor for Aquaculture) and Czech Republic.

His wife Mirjana, son Darko and grandsons Filip and Sven were in his life, long –year professional work as well as in his scarce leisure time (fruit growing, fishing, chess and card playing) his lasting support.

EAFP council

Some extracts from the publication, including the forewords, the contents pages a small selection of the article pages are being made available for free download. (Click here for Extracts PDF)

The book is 288 pages and includes colour pictures. Some contributions are written in English and most of the German contributions also include an English summary. Copies of the book can be purchased for €10.

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As one of the leading scientists in this field, he investigated "Infectious Dropsy," and Fish mycobacteriosis, among other diseases. In 1961 the fruit of his works was published for the first time, the "Fish Diseases Textbook" ("Taschenbuch der Fischkrankheiten"). Up until 1992, it reached six editions. This standard work was also translated into English and Spanish and was for many young scientists and practitioners - as well as for the author of this obituary - their first manual on fish diseases.

Due to his political attitude, he had to leave the "Institut für Binnenfischerei" in 1962, but found a new position in Berlin-Buch at the "Institut für Krebsforschung" (Institute of Cancer Research),  where he developed new methods in the field of autoradiography that led to an understanding of how tumors are caused by chemical pollutants. In 1964, he habilitated at the Humbolt University and taught fish diseases at the veterinary department. He changed over to the "Institut für Pathologie" (Institute of Pathology) at the University of Jena, where he continued his cancer research as head of the department. Political reasons forced him to give up teaching and were the cause for his not being promoted to professor. He devoted himself to fish diseases again until he retired, which was reflected in the ever increasing size of the manual, which soon became a reference work.

Even before reunification, he succeeded in obtaining a visiting professorship at the Munich Veterinary Department at the institute of the author of this obituary in 1988. The day of reunification, November 9, 1989, I spent visiting Amlacher in Jena. In 1993, the Free State of Thuringia rehabilitated him by appointing him as an extraordinary professor. Apart from his scientific area of expertise, Amlacher was committed to the history of his home Transylvania and published several essays on the subject.
Erwin Amlacher was a straightforward man, living his convictions, albeit not always diplomatically. He did not allow himself to be taken in by the political system of the German Democratic Republic.
Against all odds, he was able to work successfully and gained international recognition in the field of fish diseases. With him, we lose a scientist who possessed a solid foundation, someone who rendered considerable contributions to fish pathology, and who remained true to himself even in difficult situations. His remaining years he spent with his family, marked by illness. We will keep Erwin Amlacher in our fondest memories.

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The detailed programme lists which presentations will be taking place in each session and also provides a running order for those presentations. Each presentation has been allocated 15 minutes. (Click to download "Detailed Programme" PDF)