Sunday, September 10, 2006
Lake Placid Crowne Plaza – Olympic 2 Room

 

Welcome/Call to Order (at 2:05 PM)

Introductions – President Gary Saul

Announcements

NFHAP workshop will wrap up at 4:30 today.

A quorum is present (32 members).

Gary acknowledged the core group that was responsible for making the NFHAP workshop happen at the meeting.  Those FAS members are Mike Staggs, Doug Stang, Bob Curry, Noreen Clough, and Hannibal Bolton.

Stan Moberly noted it is important for other sections to note this effort.

Hutton Program Update – Danielle Hawkins

The Hutton program is an 8 week summer program to increase diversity of students pursuing fisheries-related careers.  Since 2001, 262 students have gone through the program; 56 were enrolled this year.  From the final reports received from the Class of 2005, 27% of the students said they planned to study fisheries in college and 48% said they are considering studying fisheries.
Students say the program increased interest in fish.  First classes are graduating from college.  Two students received full scholarships.  There were brochures on Hutton program in registration packets.

Bob Curry said the NC Chapter sponsored student who worked with Tom Kwak at NCSU.  The student did field work with other agencies.  Bob said it was very successful from his agencies’ point of view.

Review/ Approval of Minutes from March 21, 2006 AFS-FAS meeting in Columbus, Ohio – Gary Saul

Motion to approve the minutes was made (Bob Curry) and seconded (Gary Isbell).  Motion was approved without objection.

Review of Treasurers Report – Ken Kurzawski

Ken presented a handout with the Section’s financial status.  The current balance included $2,000 from BASS for the NFHAP workshop.  Deducting this amount gives the Section a cash reserve of $6,198.80.  Bob Curry asked about invoices for NFHAP.  FAS is serving as a pass through treasurer for sponsorship donations for the workshop and will incur no expenses.

Highlights from AFS Governing Board Meeting – Gary Saul

AFS has reached its goal of having one year’s operating ($3 million) in reserve.  Where does AFS go with future funds?  That was the focus of Governing Board retreat last Friday.  One comment was membership services need to be improved and should be a priority.  One aspect of that is setting up a depository for archival of Division, Section, etc. documents.

The registration for the 2007 Annual Meeting was increased $50 due to the expense of having the meeting in San Francisco.

A new Marine Journal was approved.

AFS officers, Mary Fabrizio and Jennifer Nielsen, were in attendance.
Jennifer Nielson said the Governing Board meetings were productive.  The financial stability gained through Gus Rassam’s guidance is a major milestone. The question now is how do we grow?  Need everyone’s input.  Please give us your ideas especially on ways to improve member services.  Mary Fabrizio said marine journal will be only online and open access.  This is AFS’ first attempt at this type of journal and will not likely impact other journals.  How information is transferred to members is a crucial issue.

Hurricane Relief Efforts – Bob Curry

Group had much of the work done by mid-year, but still some work needs to be done.  Check SDAFS website that Fred Janssen maintains for other needs.  Danielle Pender was hired by SDAFS to coordinate the effort.  Virginia has some surplus items they will try to transfer over.  Library materials are needed also.

Old Business

2006 Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Awards – Don Gabelhouse
Don handed out a news release announcing the winners.  He thanked the review committee consisting of Mike Staggs, Benjy Kinman, Gary Whelan, Mike Stone, and Ken Kurzawski for their assistance.  The winners for each category were:
Aquatic Education – Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game for their Outdoor Skills Program.  A prominent feature of that program was the ongoing mentoring of kids. 
Sport Fishery Development and Management – Utah Division of Wildlife Resources for the Strawberry Reservoirs Sport Fish Enhancement Project.
Research and Surveys – Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game for stock assessment and management of Stikine River chinook salmon. 

An honorable mention award was given to Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources for their project on the restoration of American and hickory shad in Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay.

Don hopes to get some press releases from the news release.  Gary Saul will have the honor of traveling to the states to make the awards.  Don would like to have a submission from Hawaii when Don is president.   Gary said it is enjoyable to go to a state to make presentation and have them recognized for their good work.  He is fortunate that his department (TPWD) has provided the financial support to make the trips.

FAS Bylaws Changes – Ken Kurzawski reported the three bylaws changes were approved by a vote of the members of the section.  Those changes were changing the section name to “Fisheries Administration Section”, giving the Executive Committee authority to approve individual funding requests up to $500 and up to $2,000 each fiscal year with out a vote of the membership, and allowing the Executive Committee to shall establish annual dues subject to approval of the members voting at the annual meeting.  Next step is to gain parent society approval.

Salary Survey – Doug Stang has received three additional surveys since the Spring meeting.  He is cleaning up database and the data are available.  Doug asked for a couple of volunteers to review a manuscript on the project.  Jack Wingate and Kent Nelson offered their help.

New Business

Request for Funding Support for Equal Opportunity Section Student Travel Fund – Gwen White asked for a donation to sponsor students to attend the AFS Annual Meeting.  The Equal Opportunity Section has seen some changes in the diversity of agencies, and the EOS continues to work on that.   Any support FAS contributes would be appreciated.  Canadians can apply.
A motion to approve a one time donation of $500 was made (Doug Stang) and seconded (Bob Curry).  Motion was approved without objection.

Request for Funding Support for the National Fish Habitat Action Plan Workshop – Gary Saul noted FAS generated the idea for the workshop and other sections and agencies are giving financial support. 
A motion to approve a one time donation of $500 was made (Mike Staggs) and seconded.  Motion was approved without objection.

2007 FAS Spring Meeting - Gary Saul opened the discussion by noting the change to a two-year term for officers changed the president’s role.  Before, the current president hosted one spring meeting.  After discussions at FAS meetings, we decided to make an effort to integrate our meeting with the AFWA at the North American Wildlife Institute spring meeting.  This year we met in Columbus and had a good meeting.  Next year, the North American meeting is Portland in March.  Gary would once again be charged with organizing our meeting.
 
Don Gabelhouse said he thought it was important to try to interact with Directors and Asst. Directors.  Did that happen?  He noted the North American had few venues where that could take place.  He doesn’t like to give up after one try, but doesn’t know if continuing to meet with the North American is worth our effort.

Stan Moberly remarked that his first date wasn’t good but you have to sometimes keep plugging.  We need to be there to increase interest in fish and fish habitat. 

Don Gabelhouse noted there are always some members who will decide to go to both the North American and AFWA meetings, so our section and interests will be represented.

Mike Staggs said he thought we made a decision to alternate, one year meeting with the North American and next year meeting separately.
 
Gary Martel asked if we had more participation at this year’s Spring meeting?

Gary Saul said, yes, attendance was up. 

Gerry Barnhart said we need to continue to work to strengthen that relationship.

Doug Stang said the venue or structure to do that at the NA is not in place now.  Somehow, an opportunity needs to be created for Directors to meet with us.

Gary Saul said at this year’s meeting there was just the one meeting.  He asked for recommendation for next year.

Doug Stang likes Texas hospitality so he would recommend we have the meeting there in 2007. 

Gary Isbell suggested inviting Doug Hansen to the meeting

Gary Barnhart suggested inviting the incoming director.

Don Gabelhouse said he doesn’t want to blame anybody; maybe we were naïve to think we could have an immediate impact.  He likes the idea of meeting next year in Texas. 

Stan Moberly said we should continue to work with members of the Committee and handpick some fish issues and then work those issues for them.

State/Federal Issues of Concern

Multiple Year Licenses – Don Gabelhouse asked which other states have multiple year licenses as Nebraska is considering those.  Rob Southwick is working with 15 states using “Tapestry” to look at license churn.  His recommendation is a longer term license may combat that.  Florida has one.  Anybody else do it?  Does it work?
Jack Wingate said Minnesota has looked at.  There would be some discount. 
Bob Curry asked how does that impact federal apportionment?    
Gary Saul offered to get information from Rob Southwick.
Benjy Kinman said it’s not ready for all states.  Some states/provinces (Ontario) have their results.
Bob Curry suggested this as a topic for 2007 Spring meeting.

A motion to adjourn the meeting was made (Bob Curry) and seconded (Fred Janssen).  Motion was approved without objection.

Meeting Adjourned at 3:04 PM

Submitted by Ken Kurzawski, FAS Secretary/Treasurer