Ebol Rojas
Ebol Rojas started working on the sea with the Uruguayan Navy. During his nine year career with the navy, he obtained a Fishing Master certification from the Maritime School of UTU, with specializations in both fish biology and fishing technology, acquired a Bridge Watch Keeping Certificate, and became a rescue swimmer. Ebol first started working part time as a Scientific Observer for the Uruguayan-based DINARA (National Direction of Aquatic Resources) in 2001, under the authority of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) and the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). In 2003 Ebol resigned from the Uruguayan Navy in order to work full time as an observer.During Ebol's seven year (1025 + sea-day) career as an observer, he has observed upon many waters throughout the world, including: the Atlantic, the Indian, and the Pacific Oceans, and in the Southern Ocean- on the Ross Sea and near the South Orkney Islands. He has observed among numerous commercial and experimental fisheries, such as: krill, hake, tuna, swordfish, crab, and Antarctic toothfish. Among these fisheries, Ebol has had the opportunity to work with numerous fishing gear types, such as: automated pelagic and bottom longlining, fish and crab pots, bottom and mid-water trawling, including mid-water trawl with a continuous fishing (pumping) system, manual longline with specialized Mammals and Birds Excluding Devices (MBED), and most recently, upon reefer transshipment vessels. Observing has taken Ebol to ports in Namibia, South Africa, Gabon, Angola, Mauritius, Chile, Argentina, Peru, Brazil, Panama, Robinson Crusoe Island, Tristan da Cunha island, the Falkland Islands, and Spain. Ebol has also worked in an international context upon both Vanuatu and Panama flagged vessels. While working with DINARA, Ebol: assisted with management of Antarctic observer operations, helped to redesign observer data collection forms, worked to adapt the data input techniques for and to asses the success of the Mammals and Birds Excluding Device (MBED), and collaborated in on the drafting of several internal technical reports. Ebol was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, and now resides in Mexico. Ebol is currently a certified CCAMLR International Observer and an ICCAT Regional Observer Program observer.
Ebol has been working with the APO as a regular Mail Buoy contributor since 2006, and is now an APO board member. He sees observers as the fundamental suppliers of the information needed for making proper fisheries management decisions, and he sees the observer position as essential for improving the efficiency of fishing gears and techniques which help to minimize the incidental capture of protected species such as sea birds, marine mammals, and sea turtles. With the APO, Ebol hopes to help raise the overall recognition for observers as professionals and improve the existing observation methods used for identifying and quantifying a serious global issue, the Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fishing about the world.
Contact Ebol at ebolred@yahoo.com.ar