Traditional Marine Resource Management and Knowledge Special Edition (Mars 2003)

Special Edition (Mars 2003)

This Special Edition is respectfully dedicated to the life and memory
of our friend and colleague, Bob Johannes

Note from the editor

This is a very brief note to express my deep gratitude to all who contributed to this "Special for Bob". Thank you for helping me keep my final promise to him.

Kenneth Ruddle

Note on behalf of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community

There is no easy way of conveying the sense of loss that one feels at an untimely death, and Bob Johannes was an individual who touched the lives of very many people. His passing leaves a large gap.

The first that many of us knew about the event was through an email drafted by Bob himself, transmitted posthumously through his own email account. To receive a posthumous message from someone you respect, or love, is a shocking event. But it was typical of Bob’s forthright, appropriate touch that this distressing message itself conveyed comfort.

He said: "I have had so much to be happy about in my life – everything that counts has been totally rewarding ... everything except some unidentified malfunctioning biochemical pathways".

In this, as in everything, he was able to cut to the heart of the matter, and to explain just why things are as they are. And to show us a way forward, even if he saw no way forward for himself.

Bob was an inspiration to many people, as you will see from tributes collected in this special issue of the bulletin. His ideas, and his inspiration, will live on.

Tim Adams
Director, SPC Marine Resources Division

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