I keep this blog very fishery oriented on topics of my interest, and a lot of it around the Monitoring, Control and Surveillance area, which is where I work the most… but today will be a bit more personal
As I sat on a meeting for the WCPFC Transhipment IWG… it occurred to me how come I am here, considering my origin and past.
As usual, it comes to people, mentors and opportunities… so in this post, I want to thank a mentor who unfortunately died a couple of weeks ago.
I met him in one of my 1st jobs as a consultant in 2000 in Sri Lanka, and we kept in touch since then.
He embodied the role of a mentor for his capacity and humanity. He literally wrote the first books on fisheries MCS back in 1994 for FAO after his days in the Canadian Navy and kept the same good and cool attitude from then till his last job as the Compliance Manager of the NPFC
He was the 1st that welcome me as a fisherman into the fisheries officers’ world, and I know he was genuinely happy for me when I kept getting jobs along that line of work, and there was always an encouraging answer to my many questions along the way.
He worked worldwide and always supported people… and so many people got in touch with similar stories to mine in terms of the support and guidance he gave so generously.
He had a great laugh and was always keen to see the positives… I know he would not like tears, so I here celebrate his life and say a public thank you for the help provided…
And I’m sure I’m not the only one that feels the same!