He is also appointed with the UBC School of Public Policy and Global Affairs.

He specializes in bioeconomics, marine ecosystem valuation and the analysis of global issues such as fisheries subsidies, IUU (illegal, unreported and unregulated) fishing and the economics of high and deep seas fisheries.

[1] In February 2023 Sumaila was the co-recipient of the 2023 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, with Daniel Pauly, which has been described as the ‘Nobel Prize for the Environment.’[2] Sumaila's work on international fisheries subsidies has been influential in the Doha Round of WTO negotiations concerning subsidies and countervailing measures.

Lead editor, Fisheries chapter of the United Nations Green Economy Report.

Sumaila's work has generated a great deal of interest, and has been cited by, among others, the Economist, the Boston Globe, the International Herald Tribune and the Vancouver Sun.