Quentin Grafton, recipient of the
U of O Young Researcher Award

Quentin Grafton —   international expert   in the economics   of Fisheries

Quentin Grafton from the Department of Economics is the 1998 Young Researcher Award recipient. This award is presented annually to an individual who has made outstanding contributions to research in his or her first seven years as a faculty member in a tenure track position. The award consists of a research grant of $10,000. The award was created to foster excellent research in young professors, pivotal to the future of the University of Ottawa. Past recipients include: Michel Bruneau (Civil Engineering) in 1996, and Bernard Jean Jasmin (Physiology) and Damien Roy (Mathematics and Statistics) who shared the award in 1997.

Quentin Grafton is surprised and very pleased that he was selected for this award. Grafton remarks that, "Investing in people, that is faculty as well as the support staff, is where you should put your money. I don't mean just salary, but investing in training and giving employees the opportunities to develop themselves... you know, human capital development. What makes a university a good university is not big buildings, but good people." He also feels that this type of award demonstrates that the University of Ottawa is serious about encouraging and promoting the quality of its research.

During the next two years, Quentin plans to continue working on papers dealing with the efficiency of fisheries, global warming, as well as property rights and general property rights issues — not only in terms of fisheries, but also in terms of pollution permits. In a broader sense, Grafton will also investigate how property rights can be used so as to address or redefine environmental problems. He is also looking forward to his sabbatical year, as of July 1998, during which he plans to write a book for graduate students, "Lectures in Environmental and Resource Economics".

As an environmental economist, Grafton is not only concerned with establishing costs in terms of dollars and cents but is also interested in determining human and social costs. Environmental issues dealing with stratospheric ozone depletion and global warming, for example, have different costs at various levels. "We try to attach a value to a forest not just in terms of its standing value in timber, but its value in terms of biodiversity, and its value in terms of its existence. Economists have actually been leaders in looking at these questions." reveals Grafton with great pride.

Grafton is considered to be an international expert in the economics of Fisheries and he has published extensively in this area. His latest paper concerns Canadian fisheries policy and was written in collaboration with Dan Lane from the Faculty of Administration. The paper outlines current problems in Canadian fisheries and makes recommendations as to what needs to be done in order to change the policies for better outcomes. "There is no pretence that we can solve Canadian fisheries' problems, but we hope to alert policy managers, people in the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, as well as individuals at the provincial level; alert them to think about what can be done to improve the situation." explains Grafton. Grafton also comments that Canada's problems are outstanding when compared to other countries, "the depletion of cod on the East coast is unfortunate. I can not think of any other country which has the dimension of that problem. It really is a catastrophe". Grafton does not claim to have all of the answers but his recommendations may help policy makers lead the fishing industry to more efficient, profitable, and sustainable outcomes.