PROFILE
PHOTO : NEIL HOPE
A biologist ’ s life
Keith Hiscock was made an MBE in the New Year ’ s Honours , and says the recognition makes him more determined than ever to apply the highest scientific standards to research
Vintage photo at Bessy ’ s Cove , Cornwell
Keith Hiscock is in fine form when we meet on Zoom to discuss his MBE , announced as part of the New Year ’ s Honours . That being said , the veteran marine biologist has always struck me as being upbeat , whether meeting him at the Marisco Tavern at his beloved Lundy Island , or at Plymouth Sound BSAC ’ s lock-up at the Mountbatten Centre , after a day of diving . This is , after all , a man who has followed his passions relentlessly through a long career devoted to science and the sea .
While clearly pleased with the recognition , he ’ s blissfully unaware of who may have nominated him . “ The problem is you have to be nice to them for the rest of your or their life !” he jokes . More importantly , the award serves as validation for a career in which he has campaigned to use science correctly in marine environmental protection .
Keith ’ s career has spanned so many years and so much activity , it ’ s hard to sum up his achievements . An early interest in seashore life and cold water corals led to a degree in Zoology and Botany in London , followed by a PhD in water flow and ecology in Bangor , North Wales . Having learned to dive at University of London SAC , he came into contact with the leading diving biologists of the late 1960s , just as scuba was becoming a new tool for biological study .
After a stint monitoring Anglesey ’ s shores , in 1975 he was appointed Deputy Director of the Field Studies Council Oil Pollution Research Unit at Orielton Field Centre , Pembrokeshire . From there , he , with many others , developed the methods and equipment that would be used to describe , catalogue and classify seabed habitats and their associated communities ( now known as ‘ biotopes ’) around Britain .
Keith recalls that at the time , the marine issues getting the headlines were divers taking sea fans and oil exploration . “ It took a very long time for people to realise that it was heavy mobile fishing gear destroying large areas of seabed and the marine life associated with those areas , including rocky reefs ,” he says .
When it was determined that a Marine Nature Conservation Review of Great Britain ( MNCR ) was needed , he was appointed to head the team in 1987 . The work involved teams of diving biologists , and succeeded in cataloguing much of what we know about the marine biology of our shallow seas .
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