Carmela Porteiro, Instituto Español de Oceanografía, ICES Delegate of Spain
Manolo is gone. He has left us to explore other worlds.
For more than 30 years, Manolo was actively involved in ICES activities, and an assiduous participant in both, methodoligcal and assessment working groups. He was an expert in pelagic species, and acted as the European data coordinator for Blue Whiting for the Working Group on Widely Distributed Stocks (WGWIDE). He was also the Co-chair of the Workshop on the Age Reading of Blue Whiting in 2013.
Manolo loved visiting other countries, learning about other cultures, and meeting people with whom to share his knowledge and his pure enjoyment of life. He added to this passion the liberty to imagine other worlds, other realities, loosening his great imagination.
As an analytical person, always in search of the logical meaning of things, he was not satisfied with simple explanations: he enjoyed exchanging and discussing ideas. His passing leaves a void that is difficult to fill. Meetings, cruises, parties, working groups, discussions.
Manolo was unassuming, but full of vitality. For his tribute, he would appreciate what he liked best: a good after-lunch conversation, discussing either trivial or important issues. He considered such moments essential to human beings.
We must share in his departure the enormous meaning of life Manolo loved. Thank you, Manolo, for having enjoyed life. And for making us your partners in it. Adiós.
