News

Annual Meeting

Symposium Summary: Working Across Diverse User Groups to Address Aquatic Fragmentation in a World of Limiting Resources and Increased Demands: Can We Prevent New Barriers to Avoid Restoration by Working With Diverse Stakeholders?

Aquatic barriers have contributed to the decline of numerous aquatic species throughout the United States by fragmenting habitats. Although natural resource managers work diligently to reconnect habitats, they struggle to keep up with increasing water demands and infrastructure construction that lead to new barriers. This symposium featured presentations highlighting the successes and difficulties from real-world... Read More

Symposium Summary: Transdisciplinary Marine Science: Research and Education to Expand Methodologies and Address Complex Problems

Our symposium consisted of 12 talks encompassing examples of transdisciplinary science from Alaska to the Caribbean and suggestions, examples, and critiques of educational opportunities for transdisciplinary training. Defining “transdisciplinary” seems of paramount interest, and while I offered a definition from Rosenfield (1992) in my introduction—individuals from multiple disciplines working jointly to create a unified conceptual... Read More

Symposium Summary: Simulation Models as Decision-Support Tools for Fisheries Conservation Planning

Unlike the “real world,” simulation models provide experimental systems where the outcomes of various assumptions can be examined to help inform management decisions. Given the multiple-objective nature of fisheries management, quantitative fish population and environmental simulations have become more commonly used to help cumulate the effects of multiple management actions and environmental stressors and provide... Read More

Symposium Summary: Selective Fish Passage: Easing the Tension between Native Fish Restoration and Invasive Species Control

Sponsor: Great Lakes Fishery Commission Increasing connectivity into and within rivers can benefit fishes by providing access to important habitats. Deliberate fragmentation of rivers can protect fishes by limiting the spread of invasive species. This symposium first addressed the geographic scope of interest in, and need for, selective bidirectional fish passage. It then explored the... Read More

Symposium Summary: Riverine Thermal Regimes: Natural Patterns and Effects of Human Disturbance

Temperature is a critical component of freshwater ecosystems, influencing a wide range of phenomena from phenology of individuals to interactions within aquatic communities. This symposium brought together empirical data, statistical tools, and mechanistic models describing thermal regimes in aquatic systems, with the intent of determining which techniques are best equipped for understanding these regimes and... Read More

Symposium Summary: Resolving the Multiple Impacts of Anthropogenic Eutrophication on Coastal Fish and Fisheries

The AFS scientists tackled a diversity of effects from anthropogenic eutrophication on U.S. fish and fisheries. Although several intertwining factors were discussed in this symposium, it was clear that we are only beginning to scratch the surface of this complex issue. This well-attended symposium began with a thought-provoking keynote that explored if the northern Gulf... Read More

Symposium Summary: (Re)envisioning Process-based Restoration

Sponsor: Cramer Fish Sciences When we first imagined this symposium, we thought we’d invite enough speakers to fill one slot. Instead, there was enough interest among AFS members to fill an entire day. We had 19 talks that all addressed fish restoration. Speakers were agency and tribal scientists, academics, consultants, and students. Some talks were... Read More