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Brief History of the World Association of Copepodologists

In 1979 Dov Por attempted to stimulate better communication between copepodologists by writing to the meiofauna newsletter Psammonalia with two suggestions:

1) To organise a symposium on Copepoda
2) To organise and edit a Copepod Newsletter.

There was a small response to this initiative, which increased when the call was repeated in Crustaceana. Then, in March 1980, a first circular letter was sent out to 87 copepodologists around the world, and 34 replied. In a second letter Dov Por announced: that a first international conference on Copepoda would be organised in Amsterdam in August 1981 by Jan Stock, and that Kurt Schminke had offered to edit a copepod newsletter.

In October 1980 the first issue of Monoculus, edited by Kurt Schminke and produced by Gerd Schriever, appeared, followed by a second (February 1981) and a third (July 1981) in the approach to the First Conference. About 120 copepodologists attended that first conference in Amsterdam, which was a great success.

At the Second International Conference on Copepoda, held in Ottawa (organised by Chang-tai Shih) in August 1984, a general assembly was held at which it was decided to establish a formal organization, the World Association of Copepodologists, and Dr Zbigniew Kabata was elected Founder President. Together with a provisional executive committee, it was his task to prepare a constitution for the WAC and an organizational framework to be placed before the members at the Third International Conference, scheduled for London in 1987.

Throughout this entire formative period the newsletter Monoculus, now taking its familiar form, appeared on average twice each year. It grew in size and stature as a forum for debate and information exchange among the community of copepodologists. Monoculus No. 11 published in October 1985 contained the draft constitution for the WAC along with a request for comments.

On 1^st January 1986 all copepodologists listed in the Directory of Copepodologists and receiving Monoculus became Founder Members of the WAC. The number of Founder Members reached 207 by the end of 1986. Also in 1986 it was announced that annual dues for membership of the WAC would be charged, including subscription for Monoculus (which had been free from its inception).

The WAC was officially founded at the Third International Conference on Copepoda held in London in 1987. The draft constitution was unanimously accepted with a single change, namely that the offices of General Secretary and Treasurer would not be combined. Jan Stock became the first elected president and by November 1987 there were 259 members of the Association. As of June 2002, the WAC has 900 members.

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