fall newsletter header

MEETINGS

Call for Symposia for Latin America and Caribbean Fisheries Congress

Symposium proposal submission is now open for the Latin America and Caribbean Fisheries Congress, to be held in Cancun, Mexico, in May 2023. Symposium submissions, as well as proposals for innovative sessions and educational workshops, are due by October 1.

POLICY

Recovering America's Wildlife Act Video Contest

Here's a fun way to support the Recovering America's Wildlife Act and possibly win an AFS membership! AFS is joining our partners in a social media blitz to mobilize personal networks around the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act. We are asking people to make videos to share with their friends, followers, and connections describing why this bill gives them hope for the future of the wildlife they love, and to encourage their networks to urge their U.S. Senators to vote yes. Submit your video by September 16 to be entered in a drawing for a free AFS membership - more details, including a sample video and suggested scripts, are available here.

Climate Ambassadors Recruitment

Applications are now being accepted for the next class of Climate Ambassadors through October 1. Administered by AFS with the assistance of a team of dedicated and skilled science communication trainers, the Climate Ambassadors Program provides a specialized 2-year communication skills program beginning with orientation in December and training starting in January 2023. Ambassadors will learn a variety of specific communication skills with weekly follow-up opportunities to discuss and practice their application in different formats. Founded on the latest research on science communications, program trainings will be in-depth, interactive, and provide the tools for fisheries scientists to more effectively communicate with thought leaders, journalists, stakeholders, and lay audiences.

AFS Supports EPA Restrictions on Pebble Mine Development

AFS and the AFS Alaska Chapter submitted joint comments to the US Environmental Protection Agency this week supporting the agency's proposal to restrict discharge of dredged or fill material into three watersheds in association with mining the Pebble deposit. The comments listed long-standing concerns about the development of a mine in Bristol Bay, a project whose impacts to fisheries and the watershed cannot be adequately reduced or mitigated.

SCIENCE

Life in the Fast Lane: Feeding and Growth of Juvenile Steelhead and Chinook Salmon in Main-Stem Habitats of the Columbia River Estuary

The authors of this paper documented active feeding and growth by yearling Chinook Salmon and steelhead smolts in the Columbia River estuary, which contradicts the paradigm that they neither feed nor grow while rapidly moving through the estuary. Results show that extensive tidal wetland restoration in the Columbia River estuary benefits interior stocks of Chinook and steelhead by producing prey that fuels rapid growth, without salmon having to enter wetlands.

Acoustic Telemetry Reveals the Complex Nature of Mixed-Stock Fishing in Canada's Largest Arctic Char Commercial Fishery

Acoustic telemetry has emerged as a powerful tool for studying the environmental and biological drivers of fish habitat use and movement but the feasibility of using acoustic telemetry data to inform mixed-stock fisheries has rarely been tested. The authors of this paper used acoustic telemetry data to assess the potential for mixed-stock fishing in the Cambridge Bay (Nunavut) Arctic Char commercial fishery where we highlight pervasive mixed-stock fishing at all commercial fishing locations.

FISHERIES

What’s in a Fish Species Name and When to Change It?

Honorific scientific names have recently received intense scrutiny because societal values have changed. Across disciplines groundswells of support for renaming species have occurred; specifically those named after dishonorable people or with culturally inappropriate common names. Fishes have not been immune to this attention, but changes have come slowly. Now is the time for AFS to confront this controversial topic.

Brett Billings: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Videographer

The January 2021 issue of Fisheries included an interview with Ryan Hagerty, a photographer for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the National Conservation Training Center. While Hagerty takes much of the photography for training purposes, Brett Billings is his counterpart who captures video to be used in a host of different ways, often on the same outing as Hagerty.

ANNUAL MEETING

Annual Meeting Photo Collection

52319529506_b045111102_k
52319998385_6a22ac8a59_k
52319990034_3f49ca7c75_k
From the Opening Plenary to the Spawning Run to the Spokane Tribe fish release to the Grand Networking Event - relive your favorite moments at the Spokane Annual Meeting in our photo collection!

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Take This Opportunity to Share Your Opinions! AFS Reopened the 2022 Membership Survey

AFS already received a large number of responses, but we want to give members (and non-members) one more opportunity!
We want to hear from as many people as possible. Please fill out the 2022 Membership Engagement and Satisfaction Survey (or Non-member Survey) that applies to you by September 30. Your feedback is important to us and will help guide AFS leadership and staff as we makes strategic decisions about current and future membership programs.

All participants will have the opportunity to enter a drawing for your choice of a free AFS book or a $50 Amazon gift card using a separate Google form. For questions, contact Membership Manager Kelly Kotche at [email protected].

Host an AFS Webinar

Have some special knowledge you really want to tell the world about? Host an AFS webinar! AFS is seeking member input for upcoming webinar topics for October 2022 and beyond. Submit webinar suggestions online!

RESOURCES

EVENTS: See upcoming AFS and other fisheries events in our Events Calendar
CAREERS: For the latest JOBS postings from around the U.S. and Canada
facebook twitter linkedin instagram