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Timothy Richard Parsons, OC FRSC (born 1932) is a Canadian oceanographer and the first Canadian to receive a Japan Prize.
Born in Colombo, Ceylon, he received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1953, a Master of Science degree in 1955, and a Ph.D. in 1958 all from McGill University.
Tim Parsons is a Professor Emeritus at the University of British Columbia and an Honorary Research Scientist at the Institute of Ocean Sciences in Sidney, B.C., Canada. His scientific interest is biological oceanography and particularly the application of oceanography for the solution of problems in fisheries and ocean pollution. His lifetime work has been to establish a new ecosystem approach for the management of fisheries using oceanographic information. He has followed a research program of developing methods, conducting large scale experiments using mesocosms and making observations in the Gulf of Alaska and the Beaufort Sea.
In 1979, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. In 2005, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 2007, he received an honorary Doctoral degree in Science from the University of Victoria.