Rashid Sumalia

Dr. Sumaila is Professor and Director of the Fisheries Economics Research Unit at the University of British Columbia. He received his Ph.D. from Bergen University, Norway, and holds a B.Sc. with honors from Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria. Dr. Sumaila is deeply interested in how economics, through integration with ecology and other disciplines, can be used to help ensure that ocean resources are sustainably managed for the benefit of both current and future generations. His key recent contributions include 1) applying game theory to fisheries; 2) rethinking the nature of the discount rates applied in marine resource valuations, and formulating a highly original alternative, i.e., “intergeneration discount rates”; 3) understanding the nature, amounts and effects of government subsidies on global fisheries; 4) estimating the multiple benefits that would be obtained globally by rebuilding fish stocks and setting up marine reserves, including conceiving of the High Seas as a large marine reserve. Sumaila has authored over 200 journal articles; which have appeared in prestigious journals such as Nature, Science, Nature Climate Change, Ecological Economics and the Journal of Environmental Economics & Management. Dr. Sumaila is winner of the 2017 Peter Benchley Ocean Award in the Excellence in Science category; the 2016 UBC Killam Faculty Research Prize; the 2013 American Fisheries Society Excellence in Public Outreach; the Stanford Leopold Leadership Fellowship and the Pew Marine Fellowship. He was named a Hokkaido University Ambassador in 2016. His work is highly regarded by policy makers at the highest levels, resulting in invitations to give talks at the United Nations, the White House, the U.S. Congress, the European Parliament, the African Union, the British House of Lords and the Canadian Parliament.