President Katherine Guindon-Tisdel established that a quorum was present and called the meeting to order at 6:10 pm.

A motion was made by John Benton to approve the minutes of the 2002 Annual Business Meeting as published. The motion passed unanimously.

The treasurer’s report was presented. Larry Connor made a motion for acceptance of the report. The motion was accepted by unanimous vote (attached).

Dr. Chuck Cichra furnished a report on Student Travel Grants. Eight full grants (all meals and lodging) and two partial grants (one full day of meals and lodging) were awarded. Full grants went to; Patrick Cooney, Antony DiGirolama, Jeff Grimm, Julianne Harris, Jodie Rummer, Bryan Swanson, Karen Vaughan, and Heidi Wallman. Partial grants were awarded to Elizabeth Berens and Jaclyn Debicella.

Larry Connor presented the 2003 Rottman Scholarship Fund award for the M.S. candidate to Timothy Bonvecchio, a student of Dr. Mike Allen’s at the University of Florida. There was no award made for the PhD level this year. Larry then presented a report of the annual balance of the fund (attached). Larry made motion that the FAFS forego reimbursement from the Scholarship fund for expenses incurred in this past year. This amounted to $671.565. The motion carried. Information was presented on Roger Rottman’s family and their awareness of this award.

Kim Tugend agreed to continue as the newsletter editor. The chapter ratified this.

There were no student concerns presented. Some interested students agreed to work within the framework of the bylaws review to explore other avenues for student involvement within the chapter.

Pat Fricano had no legislative report.

Tom Maher asked that chapter members solicit raffle items from their local vendors prior to the next year’s meeting. Appeals to major sponsors that had produced results in previous years were declined this year. Tom will work with the raffle for one more year. Bridgett Tiffany will assist Tom.

The FAFS website will be switched to the Southern Divisions server, which will not cost the chapter any monthly fee. Bob Wattendorf will maintain the site.

Bylaw review was continued until next year. Four members agreed to assist Peter Hood in the review.

There was discussion of a request for adding the FAFS endorsement to the American Rivers (www.amrivers.org) group’s request for funding. Pat Fricano made motion to table the request for the endorsement. The motion to table passed unanimously.

A request for funding from the AFS Equal Opportunity section was discussed. A $200 donation was made last year. Rich McBride made a motion to decline the funding request this year. The motion carried unanimously.

A request for funding was made for the 4^th World Fisheries Congress in Vancouver. A motion was made by Larry Connor to provide $500 for Dr. Bill Seaman’s travel (he is a session leader).

Larry Connor informed the chapter that the Southern Division Business Meeting has been moved from the Southeastern Association fall meeting to the Mid-Year meeting.

A request was made for travel funding assistance for Mexican fisheries professionals to attend the Western Division Meeting. Larry Connor mad a motion for FAFS to donate $200 for that purpose. The motion carried unanimously.

Discussion of using the parent societies capacity to accept charge cards at the meeting was made. Tom Maher made the motion that FAFS use this service at the 2004 annual meeting and absorb the 3.5% service cost. The motion carried unanimously.

Elections for Chapter Officers were conducted: John Benton was retained as Treasurer. Dr. Mike Allen was voted president-elect and Dr. Wayne Bennett assumed the presidency of FAFS and chaired the rest of the business meeting.

Under New Business there was discussion of increasing professional memberships. One avenue for doing this and offering services to the membership was by offering Continuing Education training.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:43

John Benton, FAFS Secretary-Treasurer

________________________________________________________________________

Treasurer’s Report                                                  

Florida Chapter AFS

Fiscal Year 2002 (January 1, 2002 to December 31, 2002)

Beginning Balance: January 1, 2002                                             $28,796.92

Closing Balance: December 31, 2002                                            $28,332.00

          Difference                                                                        $    (464.92)

Credits:

Deposits                                    $10, 856.48

Dividends & Interest                   $      660.36

Debits:

Checks                                      $(10,129.72)

Funds to Purchase securities        $     (418.05)

Other debits                               $     (250.00)

Asset Value:

January 1, 2002                         $9,003.00

Securities Purchased                   $   418.05

December 31,2002                     $7,771.51

                                                $(1,649.54)

Major Expense Categories:

Annual Meeting                          $8,129.00              81%

Newsletter                                 $1,123.56              11%

Rottman Award                          $   655                   6%

John W. Benton

Treasurer

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