In Memoriam

 Robin Clark

(13 Apr 1938 – 24 Jan 2024)

Robin was chair of The Underwood Trust, which was created on 1 July 1973. The name derives from Underwood Lane, Paisley, Scotland, which was the childhood home of one of the founders. Robin and his cousin Gordon Foulds visited Arran in their teens in the 1950’s with their bicycles and spent many happy hours fishing in Lamlash Bay with Peter McArthur. Those were the plentiful days of fishing in the Clyde. From 1889-1984, a ‘Three Mile Limit’ banned bottom-trawling from 36% of Scotland’s inshore seas (the 0-12nm zone), including the Clyde. It was established in response to concerns about the damage being done by inshore trawling. In 1984 this limit was removed, permitting bottom-trawling throughout the vast majority of our coastal seas.  By 2000 the inshore ecosystem had been decimated by overfishing.

The Underwood Trust was the first financial supporter of COAST in March 2012 which spanned a 3-year period. Robin was always keen to know if fish and the ecosystems that they depend on were recovering with the No Take Zone in Lamlash Bay, asking if he came again, would he be able to catch cod and haddock? The goal of The Underwood Trust is to improve the quality of people’s lives and our environment. Most recently it has been powerful in its supporting efforts with Greenpeace to protect the Arctic and Antarctic including whales; also, the voyages of Greenpeace ships to carry out research on the oceans, work with other ENGOs to safeguard marine ecosystems around the world, protecting coastal communities depending on small scale fisheries, lobby politicians and interact with the United Nations meetings on protection of the High Seas and the 30X30 campaign (Protect 30% of the Oceans by 2030).

Robin, with his wife Patricia, lived in Compton Bassett in Wiltshire and through The Underwood Trust Robin was a keen supporter of the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, Wiltshire Air Ambulance and many other organisations contributing to public life.

Sally Campbell