Fisheries expert first Canadian to receive $415,000 international award

Vancouver, BC – University of British Columbia professor Dr Daniel Pauly, one of the world’s leading fisheries conservation researchers, is the first Canadian to receive the International Cosmos Prize, awarded by the Expo’90 Foundation of Japan.

Worth 40 million yen (nearly C$415,000) and named after the cosmos flower, which was in full bloom during the closing of Expo’90 in Osaka, Japan, the International Cosmos Prize is awarded annually for research excellence that promotes the concept of “The Harmonious Coexistence of Nature and Mankind.”

Dr Pauly, who has been profiled in The New York Times and was named by Scientific American magazine as one of the top 50 contributors to science and technology in 2003, is director of UBC’s Fisheries Centre, an innovator in fisheries science, and a vocal and influential critic of the current fishing practices that deplete the earth’s fish stocks.

He received his award at a ceremony in Osaka, Japan, in late October, following a commemorative lecture. He also attended a symposium held in his honour and met with the Crown Prince of Japan and the ministers of agriculture, forestry and fisheries; and land infrastructure and transport.

Among his major achievements are two of the world’s most important fisheries projects. FishBase is a global database packed with information on more than 28,000 species of fish. Ecopath is an ecosystem-modelling software that predicts how fish populations might respond to various pressures.

Dr Pauly has authored or co-authored over 500 scientific articles, book chapters and shorter contributions, and authored, or (co-)edited about 30 books and reports. He was elected to the Royal Society of Canada in 2003.