Parsons, Timothy

▪ 2002

      Capping a career of more than 40 years in which he had established himself among the world's leading marine biologists, Canadian Timothy Parsons was named a winner of the Japan Prize in 2001. The award recognized Parsons's pioneering exploration of the complex relationships between fish and the physical, chemical, and biological aspects of their environment and the application of that new understanding to reversing the decline in fishery resources. In contrast to the traditional population-dynamics approach to fishery management, Parsons's work concentrated on the entire marine ecosystem and led to methods for nurturing the environment to help increase fish populations that had become depleted owing to overfishing and pollution. His advances helped create an alternative, holistic approach to marine conservation and management and influenced a new school of oceanographers and fishery managers. Parsons also conducted important research on the effects of pollution on the marine environment through the innovative use of mesocosms—large floating tubes of water that simulated natural ecosystems—and computer modeling.

      Timothy Richard Parsons was born on Nov. 1, 1932, in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). He attended McGill University, Montreal, where he earned a bachelor's degree (1953), a master's degree (1955), and a doctorate (1958). He took a position as a research scientist at the Fisheries Research Board of Canada but left in 1962 for a post in the Office of Oceanography at UNESCO in Paris; he returned to the Fisheries Research Board in 1964. In 1971 Parsons joined the faculty at the University of British Columbia, where he remained until he retired to the post of professor emeritus in 1992. He also served as honorary scientist emeritus at the Institute of Ocean Sciences in Sidney, B.C.

      During his career Parsons served as president of the International Association of Biological Oceanography (1976–82), won numerous awards and honours, including a fellowship of the Royal Society of Canada (1979), the Oceanographic Society of Japan Prize (1988), and the Killam Research Prize (1990). He published more than 150 works, including three textbooks.

      Parsons was the first Canadian recipient of the Japan Prize, given by the Science and Technology Foundation of Japan; the award was considered comparable in stature to a Nobel Prize.

Anthony G. Craine

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