English-born Dr Probert (69) retired from the University of Otago marine science department last year, and his 18-chapter, 508-page illustrated book, Marine Conservation, was published by Cambridge University Press in May.
''I'm obviously pleased that it's eventually seen the light of day,'' he said.
He grew up near London, and later undertook PhD studies through Imperial College London at the Marine Biological Association research laboratory in Plymouth, England.
''I essentially inherited this book from a colleague'', his PhD supervisor at Plymouth, Dr Norman Holme, in the late 1980s.
''Norman's plan to write a book on marine conservation was sadly overtaken by terminal illness.
''But he asked me if I'd be prepared to take on the
book and, as a result, he sent me his outline, notes and papers that he'd collected.''
Much of this material had since been superseded, but Dr Probert had ''largely kept the overall structure'' his supervisor had in mind.
Dr Probert was ''rather embarrassed'' about how long it had taken to complete the project, but there had been many other demands on his time over the years, including other research and teaching commitments.
The book ''kept getting put on the back burner'', and it was only recently, with retirement looming, that he had time to finish it.
The book focuses on the biological conservation of the world's seas and oceans, and the first few chapters give introductions to the marine environment, human impacts, and conservation.
New Zealand's more than 4,000,000sq km exclusive economic zone was one of the largest in the world, and the country faced some serious conservation challenges, including over the dwindling numbers of Maui dolphins.
He hoped the book would help convey the message that healthy marine ecosystems were ''essential to human wellbeing'', he said.
Dr Probert is an internationally respected benthic ecologist, in research focusing on the seabed and its associated organisms, and has received the New Zealand Marine Science Society's Lifetime Achievement Award.
