Dr. Carl Walters, an icon of the world’s fisheries science community, conducted research and developed computer models that are considered to have had an important impact on the development of fisheries science in the last 50 years.

During his career at University of British Columbia, Dr. Walters’ approach to quantitative ecology used computer simulations to generate dynamics of populations and ecological systems that help to set research priorities, test hypotheses and evaluate fisheries management options.

His seminal writings on adaptive management and fisheries assessment are widely used throughout the world by ecologists, scientists and managers. Drs. Hilborn and Walters’ 1992 book on assessment science is the third-most cited text in fisheries research.

While he remained at the forefront of both the development and application of mathematical modelling in various fields of ecology, two common threads ran throughout his research: innovation and application to real‐world problems.

A sought after expert, every commission of inquiry into fishing activities in B.C. has relied on Dr. Walters’ advice. At the Cohen Commission of Inquiry into the Declining of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River, he served as a scientific expert and witness, even offering fisheries workshops to lawyers representing small-scale fisheries.

Dr. Walters’ appeared as a scientific expert for the defendant in the landmark Sparrow case, which led to the Supreme Court of Canada’s affirmation that First Nations have an existing Aboriginal right to fish under the constitution.

Dr. Walters was a 2006 recipient of the prestigious Volvo Environment Prize for outstanding innovations or scientific discoveries and of several outstanding achievement awards from fisheries organizations. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.