The big thing about fishing is that it has its own culture and its own universe. It’s very difficult to describe, but it is one of the things that still works in deep human relationships. I always say that fisheries are about people more than fish… and as the cliche goes… there is no coincidence that the word “ship” is used in friendship.
Fisheries seem to attract a lot of characters… (I included myself in that)… and in the Pacific, there are quite a bunch… As I’m sitting in a meeting room in Busan in South Korea, at the FAO PSMA working group, the sad yet not unexpected news of the death of Hugh Walton, a friend and mentor, makes this sunny day a bit gloomier.
I have always been very thankful to him; he gave me the only thing I could not get by myself as an immigrant: “an opportunity."
Hugh’s favourite poem. Sam Hunt's "Beware the Man" as painted by Dick Frizzell. Source
The Greeks have this concept of a protector, Agyieus, like an older brother; because I didn’t have references for this life as a consultant, I had chosen in the Pacific, he was one of those references for me.
We both come from fishing boat backgrounds, which formed the basis of our friendship and views… Sometimes, I would come up with ideas that were not standard in our line of work, and he would say, "Yeah, we should try that; we will do that… The usual hasn't worked so far.”
He believed in people. I am one of his exponents. I have grown up with not many principles, but there indeed are two I uphold: I profoundly dislike ungratefulness and pretentiousness. Hugh was neither of those.
My family also grew fond of him, and a book for “uncle Hugh” was part of our Christmas shopping for almost two decades.
He had a very colourful life and worked tirelessly for all the big fisheries organisations in the region, including USP, SPC, and FFA. I doubt there are any Pacific island fisheries leaders who weren’t trained or helped by him over the last four decades.
I started working close to him in Kavieng, Papua New Guinea, where he fostered and was in charge of the Fishing College for many years. There, I realised that fisheries weren’t just a job but his life. There was little tradition of commercial fishing in PNG; the industry had to be built from scratch. What we have in the Pacific now is much more than before. He also instigated the mariculture research facility supported by a small resort.
I think some of his most outstanding achievements would definitely be the Fisheries College in PNG and the Observer Standards for the entire fishing fleet. All the Observers in the Pacific are based on the standards that he initiated and worked on; he set up the structure to evaluate the quantification of IUU fishing that will be done every five years now. He was in charge of the project to negotiate access to the EU.
A few years ago, the EU named and shamed the Pacific Island fishing countries. We had to mobilise, and he asked me to help with this. We managed to get the card system removed, an example that was followed globally because of Hugh’s vision, working with FFA’s support.
Hugh’s work brought labour condition requirements to the forefront. We were the first region in the world with standards where the fishermen are covered by their conditions of employment.
A few years ago, the FFA, where Hugh worked, also received world recognition as the most advanced organisation in preventing IUU fishing. He was the mentor at the centre of that.
He also trusted me with many jobs, yet there are three jobs I’m particularly proud of, which I wrote about in the past: the plastics assessment, the IUU quantification, and the last transhipment impracticability study.
In any case, I could write for days about his work. With him, we believed it was our job, to get ourselves out of a job, because we do capacity building.
As a human, he was far from perfect, yet he was the 1st one to recognise that… being a hard drinker and a long-term smoker shortened his life… yet he lived on his own terms.
In his late biography, I was honoured when he asked me to write the foreword and the last paragraph of the book; something he wrote is hitting me deeply at the moment.
"A line from Sam Hunt that I have always liked, a lovely line, evocative of a number of things,
Beware the man that tries to fit you out in his idea of a hat.
Yes, as my friend Francisco has said I have tended not to follow a path in life, I have made my own, I have just been bloody incredibly lucky, these evolving experiences, so much about the upbringing I have had, taking my opportunities following my heart, and my wonderful whanau.”
Moe mai ra Uncle Hugh