Charles H. Lyles/Lyles-Simpson Award
Larry B. Simpson
The Charles H. Lyles Award was awarded from 1984 to 2013 by the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission (GSMFC) "to an individual, agency, or organization which has contributed to the betterment of the fisheries of the Gulf of Mexico through significant biological, industrial, legislative, enforcement, or administrative activities". The Commissioners have, since 1984, selected eminently qualified individuals active in marine fisheries whose careers and contributions to Gulf fisheries are worthy to be labeled "fishery giants." Membership in this elite club is composed of Congressmen, scientists, administrators, enforcement, businessmen, and fishermen from both recreational and commercial industries.
Open nominations by the full Commission are made during the annual business meeting, and selection is by secret ballot receiving the highest number of votes. The recipient is honored during the Commission’s Annual Meeting in October.
In 2014 the award was renamed the Lyles-Simpson Award in recognition of Larry B. Simpson, Charlie's successor, who served as Executive Director of the Commission from 1983 until his death in 2013.
| Charles H. Lyles Award Recipients | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Charles H. Lyles | 1984 | Theodore B. Ford | 1985 |
| J.Y. Christmas | 1986 | John Breaux | 1987 |
| John Ray Nelson | 1988 | I.B. "Buck" Byrd | 1989 |
| Hugh A. Swingle | 1990 | John A. Mehos | 1991 |
| J. Burton Angelle | 1992 | Louis A. Villanova | 1993 |
| Theodore H. Shepard | 1994 | Edwin A. Joyce, Jr. | 1995 |
| Tommy D. Candies | 1996 | Walter M. Tatum | 1997 |
| Thomas L. Heffernan | 1998 | U.S. Senator Trent Lott | 1999 |
| James M. Barkuloo | 2000 | Walter W. Fondren, III | 2001 |
| Jerald K. Waller | 2002 | Andrew J. Kemmerer | 2003 |
| Hal R. Osburn | 2004 | Leroy Kiffe | 2005 |
| Robert P. Jones | 2006 | Wayne E. Swingle | 2007 |
| Ralph Rayburn | 2008 | William S. "Corky" Perret | 2009 |
| Albert L. King, Sr. | 2010 | Virgina A. Vail | 2011 |
| R. Vernon Minton | 2012 | Larry B. Simpson | 2013 |
| Lyles-Simpson Award Recipients | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Michael C. Voisin | 2014 | Ellie F. Roche | 2015 |
| Michael S. Ray | 2016 | Joseph I. Gill | 2017 |
| Christopher M. Blankenship | 2018 | William Borden Wallace | 2019 |
| Harriet MacGill Perry | 2020 | COVID-19 | 2021 |
| Thomas David McIlwain | 2022 | Joseph Albert Shepard | 2023 |
| Gary Lynn Graham | 2024 | ||
