Wade Doak was an author, marine ecologist & conservationist

Wade was one of my earliest environmental and diving heroes. Along with Jacques Cousteau and “National Geographic,” his writings and his adventures with fellow New Zealander Kelly Tarlton and American marine scientist Walter Stark, in the late ‘60s and the ‘70s, in very large part fueled my intense interest in nature and particularly in underwater exploration and diving. My father had New Zealand yachting and boating magazines stacked up in the garage that I would pore over, largely to catch the articles that Wade Doak contributed on marine life and on diving in the early ‘70s.
I was always eager to learn SCUBA diving, but at this point I was still years away from being the minimum age for certification, though I spent what seems like the better part of my life on, in, or under the water, much of it snorkeling around. Long before I reached the age at which I could legally learn SCUBA, I already knew all of the theory and could’ve passed the theoretical exams with full marks.

I’ve still got Wade Doak’s first book, that I bought when I was 12 or 13 years old, called “Beneath New Zealand Seas.” I also have, right behind me, his big book on New Zealand fishes that came out a fair bit later..

Wade was a prolific author and photographer whose interests expanded as he developed stronger and stronger focus on marine conservation issues. Eventually, his writing and educational outreach extended far beyond the shoreline and included focus on terrestrial habitats, as well, and general concepts related to conservation and to how people interacted with and related to the land and to nature. I have known and admired a few people who have followed roughly the same trajectory and can not only completely relate to them but greatly admire their efforts. Certainly, Wade Doak was always one who was foremost in my estimation in that respect.

It was a real pleasure to discover him on Facebook, a few years ago, and to interact with him there. Like I said, he was not just someone whose interests and concerns coincided pretty much exactly with many of mine but he was, quite literally, a childhood hero. And, unlike many such heroes, he remained eminently worthy of the title, too, long after my childhood (officially, at least) ended.

Wade Doak started out as a teacher - actually, he remained just that, in a broader sense — but also as a dive pioneer, since the ‘50s, in New Zealand. He was a leading figure in the country’s burgeoning dive scene and also a pioneer underwater photographer and filmmaker. In 1969 he and Kelly Tarlton and a few others salvaged the treasure of the SS ‘Elingamite.’ Kelly Tarlton was another pioneer diver in New Zealand; he established a shipwreck museum that you can see if you visit there, and his aquarium that opened after his death, in Auckland, is a popular tourist attraction. Like I said, Wade’s interest in marine conservation grew with his time in the water and with seeing the threats to viability of these natural systems. He wasn’t trained as a marine scientist but he had good friends who were academics and field researchers and he himself became very much an expert on marine ecology and the behavior and physiology of the species that he encountered.

I never met him and never knew him personally. Facebook is as close as I’ve come to that, actually, but I am glad that I got to tell him how much his efforts have meant to me over the years, including now, and he certainly left behind an extensive legacy. To have even a fraction of the effect that he has had on the world, in positive ways, would be quite a legacy for anyone. I will definitely miss him, but the work that he dedicated his life to very much lives on, not least through all of the people that he has influenced during his time here, and those upon whom his writings and other work may yet exert an influence.