american fisheries society newsletter

ANNUAL MEETING

Meeting Registration Now Open

Baltimore Annual Meeting registration is now open! Early registration rates will continue until August 31st. Enjoy more than 50 symposia, a dozen continuing education workshops, and a not-to-be-missed evening at the National Aquarium. Our generous Risk-Free Registration policies allow maximum flexibility in making your plans to attend. Abstract submission and hotel room blocks are currently open.

POLICY

Culvert Replacement in Transportation Bill

AFS recently briefed Senate Commerce Committee staff about the importance of culvert replacement in providing aquatic connectivity for anadromous fish. The committee has advanced a new federal grant program in the Surface Transportation Reauthorization bill. AFS also submitted a letter to House and Senate leaders working on transportation bills in both chambers in support of the grant program.

Marine Aquaculture Briefing

AFS hosted a briefing on "Marine Aquaculture for Climate Resilience and Climate-Friendly Food Production" with NOAA Fisheries. The briefing highlighted the need for a clear regulatory framework for offshore aquaculture in the face of climate impacts on marine capture fisheries. AFS also sent a letter to the Biden Administration urging regulations that would permit well-managed growth in the offshore aquaculture sector.

SCIENCE

Life Cycle Diversity of River Herring in the Penobscot Estuary

An investigation into distribution patterns of Alewife Alosa pseudoharengus and Blueback Herring A. aestivalis—collectively referred to as river herring—in the Penobscot River estuary, Maine, USA, from April through September in 2012 and 2013 found both species in relatively low-salinity portions of the estuary in all months sampled. Findings suggest further consideration should be given to the importance of connectivity between marine, estuarine, and freshwater habitats for age-1 and age-2 river herring and to the more complex ecological roles of age-1 and age-2 river herring.

Bioeconomic Analysis of Flavobacterium columnare Vaccine Pond Trials with Channel Catfish

Catfish farming is an economic staple for many rural families in the southern United States. Columnaris disease, Flavobacterium columnare, is a well-known but poorly controlled disease that causes millions of dollars in losses each year to the catfish industry. Auburn University tested a live-attenuated columnaris vaccine through pond trials with Channel Catfish in 2019. Vaccinated Channel Catfish had a significantly higher average weight and significantly improved feed conversion rate compared to control fish. Results from the partial budget analysis show an attractive potential net benefit to catfish producers largely based on the improved feed conversion rate, at both a research and commercial scale.

FISHERIES

Project Review Under Canada’s 2012 Fisheries Act: Risky Business for Fisheries Protection

Canada’s Fisheries Act provides essential protection for fish and their habitat. To manage thousands of projects a year, Fisheries and Oceans Canada implements a risk-based framework requiring authorization and offsetting for the highest risk projects. Projects considered lower risk proceed via letters of advice. Following changes to the Act in 2012, there were concerns about transparency and cumulative effects of low-risk projects. The authors of this paper used access to information requests to obtain documents and reviewed the department’s 2012–2019 risk-based framework.

Empirical Evidence for Depensation in Freshwater Fisheries

Inland fisheries face increasing threats to their sustainability. Despite speculation that depensation may exacerbate the effects of stressors on population resiliency, depensation has not been empirically explored in freshwater fisheries. Declining productivity of Walleye Sander vitreus populations in northern Wisconsin foreshadows an underlying change in naturally reproduced juvenile Walleye survival. The authors of this paper used long-term stock and recruitment data from lakes in the Ceded Territory of Wisconsin to quantify density-dependent trends in juvenile Walleye survival and tested for the prevalence of depensation using the q parameter of Liermann and Hilborn (1997).

ANNOUNCEMENTS

2021 Best Student Paper and Poster Award Process

Calling all high school, undergraduate, or graduate students who have recently completed research, are presenting at the Annual Meeting, and are interested in competing for the AFS Best Student Presentation or Poster Awards for 2021!
Plan now to apply for consideration as a finalist in this prestigious Society award.

Story Booth Audio Interviews

The Society will be collecting oral histories at the 2021 AFS Meeting in Baltimore in honor of our 150th anniversary. Students and early career professionals will be matched with established professionals for 15-minute audio-only interviews. Please indicate your interest in participating during the registration process.

Hutton Challenge 2.0

This year, the Hutton Junior Fisheries Biology Program is launching another funding challenge building on the success of our 2020 campaign in conjunction with the "Spring Virtual Conference for Canceled Talks." Our goal for the Hutton Funding Challenge 2.0 is to reach 100 individual donations and raise $5,000 from June 1 to September 1. All donations will go directly to the Robert F. Hutton Fund to support more student activities and internships for future program years.

Throughout the summer, tune into our Instagram accounts (@afshuttonprogram and @americanfisheries) to learn about what our 2021 Hutton Scholars are up to - we have lots in store for the students and our followers!

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
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