In the fall of 2015, NOAA Under Secretary Dr. Kathryn Sullivan initiated an internal honorary award with the creation of the Order of Sherman’s Lagoon, also known as the Silver Sherman Award.  Jim Toomey, illustrator of the daily cartoon, Sherman’s Lagoon, which shares the exploits of Sherman the shark and also educates readers about the environment, agreed to NOAA using Sherman’s image for this new award.  The award recognizes employees who go above and beyond their normal responsibilities to help fulfill NOAA’s mission.  Each NOAA member of the Senior Executive Service gets one award per calendar year.

In December 2016, NOAA Fisheries Office of Science and Technology Director Ned Cyr announced that Lee Benaka was the recipient of the 2016 (inaugural) Silver Sherman Award for the Office of Science and Technology. 

The citation on Lee’s award certificate reads: 

“Lee Benaka is NOAA Fisheries’ “Bycatch Ambassador.” Under his leadership, the National Bycatch Report Update 2 and the Discard Mortality Action Plan were both published this year. Lee followed up with a REDDIT AMA session on bycatch that had a record 452 comments and introduced a new audience to the challenges of fisheries bycatch.  Lee is a great advocate for NOAA Fisheries’ science and a pleasure to work with.”