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The Tyler Prize 2023 recognizes two ocean heroes:
Daniel Pauly and Rashid Sumaila
Prof. Daniel Pauly is a marine biologist, known for his work in studying human impacts on global fisheries.
Prof. Rashid Sumaila is an ocean economist, producing influential work on international fisheries subsidies, management, and policy.
Why were they chosen to win the Tyler Prize?
Daniel Pauly
You cannot manage what you cannot measure.
So Daniel Pauly pioneered methods to accurately measure fish populations, and developed FishBase - an online database of over 30,000 species of fish.
He coined the term 'Shifting Baselines' to explain how generations of humans can 'forget' how abundant oceans once were, and therefore fail to perceive the ways in which they’ve declined.
A prolific communicator, Pauly has advocated for a ban on High Seas fishing and the establishment of marine reserves.
"In a field marked by caution,
Pauly has become an outspoken critic of modern fishing practices"
- David Malakoff, Science
Rashid Sumaila
When industrial fishing strips everything of value from the sea, there's nothing left for locals who rely on fish for their liveihood.
Rashid Sumaila has witnessed this problem occuring on coastlines from Norway to Namibia, and recognized the catestrophic economic and social impacts of overfishing - particularly on the world's most vulnerable people.
One of the first to apply economic ideas like Game Theory to fisheries, Sumaila has shown the financial benefits of rebuilding fish stocks, and helped create international management policies than benefit all of humanity - not just the wealthy.
"Rashid is a giant among fisheries economists working in the environmental realm"
- Karin E. Limburg, SUNY.
We honor two champions of ocean sustainability – Dr. Daniel Pauly and Dr. Rashid Sumaila. We recognize the importance of the oceans and the need to support efforts to reverse the cycle of decline in ocean health.
2023 Tyler Prize Official Citation (extract)
For Media: Meet the 2023 Tyler Prize Laureates
Rashid Sumaila: 2023 Tyler Prize Laureate
Dr. Sumaila integrates economics, ecology, and other disciplines. His scholarship empowers sustainable management of ocean fishery resources for the benefit of current and future generations. He works directly with communities from the local scale in Africa to the global scale.
Daniel Pauly: 2023 Tyler Prize Laureate
Dr. Pauly has made critical contributions to fisheries ecology and conservation through the development of new ecosystem-based analytical approaches to assess global effects on world fisheries. He also helps the public visualize the decline of global fish stocks through Sea Around Us and Fishbase.
About The Tyler Prize
'The Nobel Prize for Environment'.
Founded in 1973 by John and Alice Tyler, the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement is awarded for environmental science, health and energy conferring great benefit upon humanity.
Recipients of the Tyler Prize are honored in an illustrious ceremony, presented with the Tyler Prize medallion and awarded US$250,000.
Administered by the University of Southern California.