www.elsevier.com/locate/marpolbul

Marine Pollution Bulletin 46 (2003) 1051–1054

Introduction to Bob Clark Special Issue

From mimeos to E-copy––a tribute to Professor R.B. (Bob)Clark, founding editor of the Marine Pollution Bulletin

The Marine Pollution Bulletin (MPB) began in June

1968 as a monthly mimeograph from Professor Robert

(Bob) Clark�s office at the Department of Zoology,

University, Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Bob initi-

ated MPB to keep people in touch with events in the

marine pollution field––newsworthy events such as oil

spills, fish kills, unusual seabird mortalities, stranding ofmarine mammals, new scientific advances in fighting

pollution, and useful information sources. In 1970, with

support from NOAA (USA), the mimeo format made a

transition to Volume 1, published initially by Macmillan

(Journals) Limited, then in 1975 by Pergamon Press. In

Bob�s words at the time, ‘‘it is a monthly information

bulletin, not a scientific journal’’ (Clark, 1970). It cost

the grand sum of 2 pounds, 10s 0d (annual subscrip-tion), the cost of a pint of bitter in the UK today! The

MPB has stayed in press since then, 12 issues a year and

since the late 1990s, two volumes a year to include

special thematic collections. Despite Bob�s good words

at its start, MPB has evolved into a journal that is fully

peer-reviewed, respected and well-circulated.

Bob Clark spent a major part of his career as a ma-

rine zoologist, specializing in the taxonomy, biology andevolution of polychaete annelids (Clark, 1960, 1964,

1966, 1969; Clark and Panchen, 1974). According to

Professor Peter Olive, a colleague at Newcastle, ‘‘Bob

was a worm man long before he became marine pol-

luted, or up to his neck in oil! His ‘‘Dynamics in

Metazoan Evolution’’ (Clark, 1964) is a noted work,

and was mentioned recently and prominently in Nature.

Currently, at Bristol University, robots are being de-signed to swim up peoples bottoms by reference to the

mathematics in a paper on worm swimming published

by Bob in 1958’’!

However, pollution was a driving interest. He was a

founding member of the United Nations GESAMP

(Pravaic, 1981; Sheppard, 1992). His wide-ranging in-

terests in the pollution field include how seabird popu-

lations respond to and often recover from oil spills(Clark and Kennedy, 1968). At the 1978 Royal Society

Conference on The Assessment of the Sub-lethal Effects

of Pollutants in the Sea in London (The Royal Society,

0025-326X/$ - see front matter Crown Copyright � 2003 Published by Elsev

doi:10.1016/S0025-326X(03)00313-8

1979), it was obvious that he knew most people in the

marine pollution field, and that he encouraged potential

authors to write and edit for his journal! Recently, and

quite remarkably given the years since retirement, he

completed the 5th edition of Marine Pollution (Clark,

2001), a highly praised undergraduate textbook on the

topic first published in 1986––truly a landmark accom-plishment.

Bob Clark has had a continued interest in oil pollu-

tion and its effects on coastal fauna, and has made

substantial contributions (Mann and Clark, 1978;

Clark, 1982; Hartley and Clark, 1987). He was called as

an expert witness for the Royal Commission on Oil

Drilling on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) in the early

1970s. The Commission was held in Brisbane, and theirfindings were influential in Australia. Bob gave evidence

about dispersant use, favoured in Britain and some

other countries, to prevent oiling of beaches and sea-

birds. He also referred to sensitivity mapping, identify-

ing areas where dispersants should not be used. The

GBR was later declared as a Park, banning drilling for

oil within the Park, a prohibition that can only be

overturned by the Australian Parliament. Bob was alsopart of a British team surveying sites in Alaska following

the now (in)famous Exxon Valdez spill of March 1989

(Baker et al., 1990). Field work continued at intervals

until July 1992, and covered a huge area in Prince

William Sound and the Gulf of Alaska. Jennifer Baker

recalls that ‘‘Bob kept going whatever the conditions––

the cold of early spring, the mosquitoes of summer, in

and out of helicopters, small aircraft, small boats, andsurvival suits. Shore work was combined with bird and

mammal observations and with fishing and shellfish

collection (for taste-testing purposes). His great depth of

experience and his reviewing skills were invaluable when

the team was faced with the difficult task of evaluation––

trying to find the scientific middle way through the great

diversity of observations and opinions that flooded the

media’’. Some of these photographs show Bob hard atwork.

There are other recollections of Bob and his activities

throughout his long career.KenMannandPatHutchings

ier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1052 Introduction to Bob Clark Special Issue / Marine Pollution Bulletin 46 (2003) 1051–1054

recall Bob in their student days. Ken and Bob were stu-

dents together at Exeter University in 1948–49, and they

chose Marine Zoology and polychaetes as a specialty. As

Ken recounts: ‘‘Bob and I, who were the only honoursstudents to choose that specialty, were given a tutorial

once aweek byLeslieHarvey, the head of department. He

had a busy teaching schedule, so he proposed that we

three meet on Saturday mornings in a coffee house in the

Cathedral Close, in Exeter. Each week he set an essay

topic, suggested some references and criticized the essays

from the previousweek. Itwas pretty informal, andwould

probably not be approved as part of a modern teachingplan, but we learned a hell of a lot and are still in the field

54 years later’’. Pat was one of Bob�s students at New-

castle in the late 1960s and knows him also through his

polychaete work. She recalls: ‘‘I think one of his major

attributes is that he has the ability to read diverse papers

and provide a coherent synthesis rapidly. You can explain

a complex problem to him and within minutes he has di-

gested the information and is able to make some intelli-gent comments, which often solved the problem that had

been mulled over for ages’’.

The MPB is one of Bob�s many lasting achievements.

He edited and steered the MPB for 25 years, retiring in

early 1992, handing the editorship to Dr. Charles

Sheppard. Bob, as the Founding Editor, still contributes

insightful editorials (Clark, 1999). The MPB has proven

to be a unique and much needed addition to the marinescience and management field. The journal reports

events and new work in a broad field. But it has changed

with the times and events affecting the oceans. Starting

with mainly news items, a few short papers, reviews of

Introduction to Bob Clark Special Issue / Marine Pollution Bulletin 46 (2003) 1051–1054 1053

publications and descriptions of conferences, the journal

expanded to have a substantial section devoted to re-

ports of research. By 1977 it had the now familiar blue

and white cover, a global editorial board, a Viewpointssection, and an expanded section of peer-reviewed arti-

cles (the heart of the journal). This format has remained

relatively unchanged, with occasional additions such as

the revitalized Baseline Reports section, Reviews and a

new section called Focus––short reviews. It is notewor-

thy that even among institutes and organizations, such

as environmental protection agencies and monitoring

organizations, which do not usually spend much onprimary scientific journals, the MPB is always renewed.

For many organisations, this is due as much for the

Editorials, News, Viewpoints and Reviews as it is for the

Research Articles. In an era when most journals will not

include large data sets, thus causing the community to

lose those data, the journal�s Baseline articles are an

invaluable source of data. The scientific and manage-

ment communities have to be constantly exposed to theimportance of comparing and contrasting field data

from different geographic areas, over long time periods.

His journal has grown in size as well as in scope––

from 192 to 368 pages per volume per year in the 1970s,

438 to 677 in the 1980s, to 626 to 1265 in the 1990s, to

about 2300 in 2003. It often covers ‘‘pollution of non-

marine environments where it is likely to have reper-

cussions in the sea’’, an original objective (Clark, 1970)and one much needed (Sheppard, 2000). This focus is

very important given the current emphasis on tackling

urbanization and other land-based marine pollution

and related activities affecting the oceans worldwide, in

the era of post-1995 Washington Protocol and GlobalProgram of Action on Land-based Activities. Specific

scientific topics in the MPB have changed, from much

emphasis on oil spills and dispersants, to topics as far

reaching as influence of exotic species, effects of endo-

crine disrupters, advances in coastal modelling, benthic

ecology and monitoring, and marine ecotoxicology. A

number of special issues have been produced since the

mid-1990s. The special issues, dedicated to a particulartheme or geographic area, are of great value in research,

education and management of marine affairs (e.g. Elli-

ott and Ducrotoy, 1994). They have afforded the op-

portunity to produce large volumes of collected works

on many aspects of marine environmental science and

management.

A citation analysis showed recently that the MPB

was in the top group of most quoted journals in envi-ronmental sciences. It continues as an Elsevier publi-

cation with a rate of subscription considerably above

the average for science journals. At least, that was the

case measured by sales of the paper version; today, the

on-line version measures about 18,000 paid-for down-

loads every month for whole papers, which will shortly

be the way journal use is measured. The Journal has

grown to cover a wide range of issues affecting the seas,especially coastal habitats. This responsiveness was lar-

gely initiated by Bob in the formative years––the MPB

clearly was a place for timely articles, and memorable

cartoons (much missed by some readers), on almost any

threat and response pertaining to the sea.

The MPB is now due to go through another transi-

tion, planning to move to electronic copy by 2003. This

is a much needed move, one completely un-imagined inthe early, pre-personal computer days.

Bob Clark�s vision in the late 1960s was of a timely

news and information bulletin on marine pollution and

other threats to the oceans. That vision was realized. His

mimeo newsletter broke new ground in its style and has

been instrumental in helping to record and chart the

course towards achieving cleaner seas. MPB has evolved

into a respected interdisciplinary journal in the field ofmarine environmental science, protection and manage-

ment. Re-reading old issues of MPB is quite illuminat-

ing; some problems are solved, some put into context,

and many are still with us! Ultimately, it is up to the

readership to enhance the value of the MPB in the col-

lective fight against marine pollution, over-development,

loss of habitats, diminished biodiversity, and other

scourges affecting the health, in the broadest sense, of thesea. Views on the MPB�s future role, the continued re-

search contributions, and above all, records of progress

and successes are greatly valued. Such contributions will

keep Bob Clark�s vision of the Marine Pollution Bulletin

1054 Introduction to Bob Clark Special Issue / Marine Pollution Bulletin 46 (2003) 1051–1054

alive and well, and will offer hope to the ocean, its in-

habitants and our coastal communities for the future.

This special issue has no specific theme, rather it

contains a wide range of subject matter, as is fitting for atribute to a man whose own interests, and breadth of

knowledge, are extremely wide. The journal is merely a

third of a century old, but this month we celebrate the

80th birthday of its founder. Bob, a very Happy Birth-

day and many congratulations!

References

Baker, J.M., Clark, R.B., Kingston, P.F., 1990. Environmental

recovery in Prince William Sound and the Gulf of Alaska.

Field Observations. Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland,

UK.

Clark, R.B., 1960. Polychaeta, with Keys to the British Genera.

Scottish Marine Biological Association, Millport, Scotland, UK.

71 p.

Clark, R.B., 1964. Dynamics in Metazoan Evolution: the Origin of the

Coelom and Segments. Clarendon Press, Oxford, UK. 313 p.

Clark, R.B., 1966. Zoology: the Study of Animals. University of

Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. 18 p.

Clark, R.B., 1969. Annelida, Echiura, and Sipuncula. Academic Press,

New York. 548 p.

Clark, R.B., 1970. Spreading news of pollution. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 1

(1), 1.

Clark, R.B. (Ed.), 1982. The Long-Term Effects of Oil Pollution on

Marine Populations, Communities and Ecosystems. In: Proceed-

ings of a Royal Society Discussion Meeting, October 28–29, 1981.

Royal Society, London, UK, pp. 185–443.

Clark, R.B., 1999. Looking back. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 38 (12), 1057–

1058.

Clark, R.B., 2001. Marine Pollution, fifth ed. Oxford University Press,

Oxford, UK. 237 p.

Clark, R.B., Kennedy, J.R., 1968. Rehabilitation of Oiled Seabirds.

Department of Zoology, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.

57 p.

Clark, R.B., Panchen, A.L., 1974. Synopsis of Animal Classification.

Chapman and Hall, London, UK. 126 p.

Elliott, M., Ducrotoy, J.-P. (Eds.), 1994. Environmental Perspectives

for the Northern Seas. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 29 (6–12), 253–660.

Hartley, J.P., Clark, R.B. (Eds.), 1987. Environmental Effects of North

Sea Oil and Gas Developments. In: Proceedings of a Royal Society

Discussion Meeting, February 19–20, 1986. Royal Society, Lon-

don, UK. 217 p.

Mann, K.H., Clark, R.B., 1978. Long-term effects of oil spills on

marine intertidal communities [Session III. Summary and over-

view]. J. Fish. Res. Board. Can. 35, 791–795.

Pravaic, V., 1981. GESAMP. The first dozen years. United Nations

Environment Programme. Geneva. 29 p.

Sheppard, C., 1992. Editorial achievement [Editorial]. Mar. Pollut.

Bull. 24 (1), 2–3.

Sheppard, C. (Ed.), 2000. Seas at the Millennium. An Environmental

Evaluation, vols. 1–3. Pergamon Press, Elsevier Science, Oxford,

UK.

The Royal Society, 1979. The assessment of sub-lethal effects of

pollutants in the sea. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 286, 399–633.

Peter Wells

Environment Canada

Dartmouth, NS, Canada B2Y 2N6

E-mail address: peter.wells@ec.gc.ca

Jennifer Baker

Clock Cottage, Church St, Rayton XI Towns

Shrewsbury SY4 1LA, UK

Peter Chapman

EVS Consultants

North Vancouver, BC, Canada V7P 2R4

Mike ElliottDepartment of Applied Biology

The University of Hull, UK HU6 7RX

Pat HutchingsAustralian Museum

Sydney, Australia 2010

Ken Mann

Bedford Institute of Oceanography

Dartmouth, NS, Canada B2Y 4A2

Peter Olive

Department of Zoology, University

Newcastle upon Tyne, UK NE1 7RU

Jack Pearce

Buzzards Bay Marine Laboratory

Falmouth, MA, USA 02540

David Phillips

The Natural History Museum

London, UK SW7 5BD

Charles Sheppard

University of Warwick, UK CV4 7AL