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SECOND AUSTRALIAN SCIENTIST WINS PRESTIGIOUS JAPAN PRIZE
18 December 2003

The Australian Academy of Science congratulates Dr Keith Sainsbury on being awarded a scientific honour at the highest international level – the Japan Prize. Dr Sainsbury received the award for his work in conserving fisheries and marine ecosystems of the world.

Dr Sainsbury is the second Australian to win the prestigious award. The first was Australia’s most distinguished microbiologist, Professor Frank Fenner, in 1988. Professor Fenner, a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, received the award for the Preventative Medicine category for his contributions to eradicating smallpox.

The Japan Prize, first awarded in 1985, recognises individuals from all parts of the world whose original and outstanding achievements in science and technology have advanced the frontiers of knowledge and served the cause of peace and prosperity for humankind.

Three categories were identified for the 2004 Japan Prize awards - Chemical Technology for the Environment, Food Production Based on Ecosystem Concepts (awarded to Dr Sainsbury), and Science and Technology for Conservation of Biodiversity.

Dr Sainsbury’s pioneering research established for the first time the importance of seabed habitats in determining the productivity of key species and the species composition of the Australian North West Shelf ecosystem. His research also provided the most rigorous demonstration of the impacts of trawling on seabed habitat and fish community composition.

Most recently Dr Sainsbury has led a research team to develop and apply methods to assess integrated management of the cumulative impacts and multiple-use of marine ecosystems - one element of which is the sustainable management of fisheries. This emphasis on understanding and managing fisheries and other human uses of marine ecosystems is a major reason for his being awarded the Japan Prize.

Under the award category, the concept of ecological food production refers to the creation of new, sustainable production systems which are harmonious with the natural environment. The prize was awarded for outstanding achievement in the development of food production, which explores ways of using such concepts of ecosystems as the food web and material cycling, to promote ecosystem conservation and management.

The Japan Prize is recognised as the highest accolade in the world for ecological research (there is no Nobel Prize for the field of ecology) and confers a certificate of merit, a medal and 50 million yen ($625,000).