Rate My Professor Nobuyuki Yagi

Nobuyuki Yagi is a Professor in the Department of Global Agricultural Sciences at the Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, where he serves as Director of the Laboratory of Global Fisheries Science. He holds a Bachelor's degree from The University of Tokyo (1987), an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (1994), and a PhD in Agriculture from The University of Tokyo (2008). His career began at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Fisheries Agency (1987-1999), followed by roles as First Secretary at the Embassy of Japan in the United States (1999-2002), and again at the Fisheries Agency (2002-2008), including Deputy Secretary-General of the OECD Committee for Fisheries (2003-2008) and Friend of the Chair in WTO negotiations on fisheries subsidies (2005-2006). He joined The University of Tokyo as Specially Appointed Associate Professor with the Ocean Alliance project (2008-2011), Associate Professor (2011-2017), and Professor since 2017.

Professor Yagi's research focuses on fisheries, encompassing conservation and sustainable use of living aquatic resources, fisheries economics, natural resources management, global fisheries, aquaculture, biological resource conservation, ecosystem services, markets, resources, and trade. Notable publications include the edited book Fishery Reform and the Future of Fish Consumption (2020), and highly cited papers such as "Valuing nature’s contributions to people: the IPBES approach" (2017, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability), "Financing a sustainable ocean economy" (2021, Nature Communications), and "WTO must ban harmful fisheries subsidies" (2021, Science). His work has garnered over 4,300 citations. Awards include the Society Award from the International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade (2012), multiple Paper Awards and the Best Academic Award from the Japanese Society of Fisheries Sciences (2015, 2020, 2022, 2025), and the Excellent Paper Award from the Journal of Global Tourism Research (2024). He chairs committees such as the scientific meeting on Japanese eels for the Fisheries Agency and serves on expert panels for the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, including the World Agricultural Heritage Systems committee, and presents at FAO and OECD forums.