Progress in Oceanography 58 (2003) 115–116
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Alister Hardy had a great imagination. A phrase from many of his lectures that continues to ring in the heads of his students was “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if . . .”, and with it memories of creatures drawn on the blackboard, mythological maybe but based on a profound zoological knowledge and ecological insight.
Concepts such as aerial plankton with its mysterious top predator and human evolution in the littoral zone were intriguing exercises in scientific imagination. Those examples may have remained just that, incidents in the education of his students, but Hardy was also an eminently practical man. He recognised the vagaries of fisheries and wanted to do something to improve fish capture and the understanding of their ecology at a time when the potential of technologies such as acoustics were quite unknown. He found it frustrating when, as a young naturalist on board research vessels in the southern ocean, he had so little opportunity to obtain his samples on station, while there was so much unused time between stations. In those days before Karl Popper, observation was still the progenitor of theory, as the history of meteorology had recently testified, and Hardy took this as the justification to devise a sampling programme on what he saw as the most appropriate time and space scales.
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2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.pocean.2003.08.001

116 Preface / Progress in Oceanography 58 (2003) 115–116
The result was the Plankton Indicator and the Continuous Plankton Recorder. Alister Hardy invented them, he showed that they worked, he provided scientific credibility that gained financial backing, and he won the confidence of fishermen who provided him with practical support. This volume tells the story of the CPR survey, a unique venture in plankton research that he instigated, nurtured, guided, and continued to cherish long after he retired from active involvement. This special issue tells too of the ups and downs — and the ups again — in the history of the Survey, how it survived financial deprivation and changes in scientific priorities, all the time maintaining scientific rigour, making use of new technology, and recognising new paradigms. It is an optimistic story, which culminates at the present time, over 70 years since its inception, with a thriving base at the Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science, and daughter surveys around the world. Most importantly, the scientific justification of the Survey is becoming ever more apparent, in times of natural and anthropogenic climate change and other effects by man on the oceans and seas.
None of this would have happened without the enthusiasm and hard work that Alister Hardy inspired in his students, assistants, colleagues, and all those who have followed him in the Survey. This volume is dedicated to Sir Alister and to all who have worked for the Survey through these many years. Some of these people are authors in the book, others are named in the bibliography, but there are many more who have served the Survey, at sea and on land, in ways that may not have gained public recognition. Without these people the Survey could not have been run, maintained, improved and enhanced over 70 years and more and our thanks go to them all.
This special issue of Progress in Oceanography includes papers presented at the 70th Anniversary Symposium of the CPR survey held in Edinburgh on 7 August 2001. Dr. Martin Angel played a key role in the processing of the manuscripts and we are indebted to his editorial skills and advice
The Guest Editors
Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science,
The Laboratory, Citadel Hill, Plymouth PL1 2PB, UK