When you are asked to say a few words about someone like Fabio you simply get stuck, asking yourself where to start. Is it reasonable to think to start from the start? But when and where did Fabio start? And if there is a start, is there an end? In between, whatever that may be, Fabio did so much and touched us profoundly in so many and different ways that it is difficult to imagine he is not anymore in-person among us. But, in his own words, we never lose a friend that has become a part of us, forever.

By having done so much, as a lot of the tributes underscored, does not make Fabio a hero or a star. Maybe for many of us who passed through his life, Fabio is an idol. But, undeniably, from many voices, we can see something much bigger: a human being! And his legacy will continue to be here, stronger than ever.

I remember, with joy, the gentleness with which he was dealing with topics that are so important to fisheries in Brazil. Always paying attention to the rigour and the content of the theme, with an obedience to the language and the simplicity of the words used, foreseeing the importance we needed to reach an audience that was strong in culture and rich in diversity: the fishing people.

I also remember his emphatic and determined way of solving a problem, never delaying taking responsibility to serve others when many from the society he joined waited for.

Fabio had never measured efforts needed to make something happen, with ethics and professionalism, because it was always necessary to make it happen. Sometimes for the obvious reason, but just as often for the unusual sense of daring, not for oneself, but for the gift of dedicating oneself: to family, profession, friends, beliefs. These beliefs can be summed up in the love for life: family life, professional life, life among friends.

Fabio also loved songs, and one I know he loved much was “sonho impossível”, interpreted and sung by Maria Bethânia, one of the best Brazilian singers. And, to my surprise, when searching for the song letter on the internet, I discovered it is as an English song – Impossible Dream (The Quest) - composed by Mitch Leigh & Joe Darion. The first stanza highlights:

“To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go”

Mirela Hazin, Fabio's niece, captured his most recent contemplative moment, slowing down to be able to learn the art of being, as he shared in his last book, "A arte de aprender a ser: a história de uma jornada espiritual em busca da liberdade" (The art of learning to be: the story of a spiritual journey in search of freedom), which came out in 2020 (https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=3JLnDwAAQBAJ&pg=GBS.PP1&hl=pt).

In 2015, Fabio wrote a reflective and moving foreword to the TBTI book on 'The Small-Scale Fisheries Guidelines: Global Implementation'. The forward is posted in full below.

The SSF Guidelines have been born and, beyond the talking, they are now already starting to walk by themselves. Let’s hope this book will help guide the steps of this young but brave toddler, so that it may grow into a strong and energetic adult. To walk through the path ahead, nevertheless, it will be very important to understand, and never forget, that ‘science’ cannot prosper without ‘experience’ and that we will get nowhere unless scientific knowledge walks hand in hand with traditional knowledge. To empower fishing communities is not the best way to ensure the sustainability of small-scale fisheries, but the only one. And small-scale fisheries are not a problem to be solved, but a solution to be unfolded.

At 9:30 am, on May 20, 2013, in the Green Room at FAO Headquarters, started the Technical Consultation to draft the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines). On that spring morning, in Rome, the tide of the small-scale fisheries in the world, hopefully, started to change for the better. A little more than a year later, on June 9, 2014, the FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI) endorsed the first internationally negotiated document explicitly devoted to small-scale fisheries. Despite its comprehensiveness and density, with more than a hundred paragraphs, and a very broad and bold scope, a consensus text was reached after only two 1-week meetings, in addition to side negotiations during COFI. The building process, however, had started much earlier, with several meetings and conferences, including the 2008 Global Conference on Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries, co-organized by the FAO and the Royal Government of Thailand. Therefore, the so-called zero draft that served as the basis for the negotiations of the Technical Consultation was already the result of a very broad, open, transparent and participatory consultation with thousands of stakeholders. The same spirit of broad participation and openness also guided the entire negotiation of the text during the Technical Consultation, with an unprecedented level of engagement and participation from civil society. It could not have, of course, been different, regarding a fisheries sector that accounts for the vast majority of fishworkers worldwide. From the very early stages of the negotiation, which I had the honour and the privilege to chair, it became very clear for all delegations that we were not discussing the fate of an economic activity, but of livelihoods and communities – that small-scale fisheries are not about an economic sector but they are about families, culture and tradition. Considering the importance of small-scale fisheries for food security, nutrition, livelihoods, rural development and poverty and hunger eradication, it becomes clear that the adoption of a human rights-based approach in the SSF Guidelines, therefore, was much more a consequence than a choice. Or, as put by Chandrika Sharma, the executive secretary of the ICSF – to whom the Guidelines were dedicated – to adopt a human rights approach for improving the life and livelihoods of fishing communities was not really a matter of choice, but an obligation.

Since its official adoption by the FAO Conference, the SSF Guidelines have become a beacon to guide national and international policy, aimed at the sustainable development of small-scale fisheries and fishing communities, to establish political hierarchies and to elevate small-scale fisheries in the agendas of governments and international organizations. The document itself, however, is worthless unless the words and provisions it contains are able to find their way into the real world. The place of the SSF Guidelines is not in the shelves of public offices or ministerial departments, but at the beaches, aboard the canoes, in the hands of the fishers, by the sea. This is the challenge now lying ahead of us: to make it actually happen and to ensure its implementation at the local, national, regional and international levels. In this context, the role and responsibility of the academic community cannot be overestimated. The present book, produced by the global research network ‘Too Big To Ignore’ (TBTI), is a very important step into the right direction. Its 37 chapters, from authors of so many different countries and regions of the globe, clearly show that implementation is already happening. The SSF Guidelines have been born and, beyond the talking, they are now already starting to walk by themselves. Let’s hope this book will help guide the steps of this young but brave toddler, so that it may grow into a strong and energetic adult. To walk through the path ahead, nevertheless, it will be very important to understand, and never forget, that ‘science’ cannot prosper without ‘experience’ and that we will get nowhere unless scientific knowledge walks hand in hand with traditional knowledge. To empower fishing communities is not the best way to ensure the sustainability of small-scale fisheries, but the only one. And small-scale fisheries are not a problem to be solved, but a solution to be unfolded.