Fisheries Management Section,
American Fisheries Society
Annual Business Meeting Minutes
18
August 2002, Baltimore, Maryland
SUBJECT TO APPROVAL AT NEXT YEAR’S BUSINESS MEETING
President Tim Hess called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m.
Jan Lubeck from the AFS home office addressed the group on publishing
within the society, membership issues, the World Fisheries Congress, and
the Hutton Program.
The 2001 business meeting minutes were approved by acclamation.
The current FMS financial report prepared by Cliff Stone (SD) was
distributed to members. Included on the summary was an item of $2,006.26
still due the FMS because the Internal Revenue Service withheld this
amount from our payment for the Electrofishing Injury Study, when the
money was actually owed by the Alaska Chapter AFS. Past-president Jeff
Boxrucker (OK) has been in contact with both the Alaska Chapter and the
IRS, and resolution of this issue may be difficult. Mike Hansen (WI) moved
and Mike Allen (FL) seconded that the report be accepted. Motion carried
unanimously.
OLD BUSINESS
Nominating Committee Report – Tim Hess reported for Ron Dent
(MO) on the election results. Newly elected officers were President-Elect
Dave Willis (SD), Secretary-Treasurer Dirk Miller (WY), Canadian Division
Representative Stephen Kerr (NS), Southern Division Representative Chris
Horton (AR), Northeast Division Representative Bill Hyatt (CT),
North-Central Division Representative Randy Schultz (KS), and Western
Division Representative Don Duff (UT). Tim expressed his thanks to all
candidates who agreed to run for offices, and noted that approximately
half of the votes received by Ron were sent via e-mail.
FMS Awards – The FMS Award of Excellence was presented to the
Southern Illinois University student subunit for their outstanding service
in producing our section newsletter since 1993!! President Hess asked
Chris Kohler from SIU to carry back the appreciation from our section to
the students. Two candidates were elected into the FMS Hall of Excellence
this year: Norm Stucky, Fisheries Division Administrator for the Missouri
Department of Conservation, and Bruce Schupp, currently Conservation
Director for B.A.S.S. and formerly Fisheries Chief for the New York
Department of Environmental Conservation. Both members were present at our
business meeting and accepted their awards to a standing ovation by the
membership.
FMS, in conjunction with the Introduced Fish Section, sponsored
the aquatic invasive species symposium being held Wednesday afternoon and
Thursday morning at this meeting.
FMS Web Page – Tim Hess reported that Fred Janssen (TX)
continues to serve the FMS by managing our web page through the Southern
Division AFS web site. President Hess encouraged everyone to seek
opportunities to contribute items for the web page.
Mercury letter – President Hess indicated that the EPA responded to the
section’s letter on mercury.
Legislation – Past-President Steve Filipek (AR) reported on the 2002
Farm Bill, and indicated that millions of dollars were provided for
riparian zone, habitat, and bank stabilization programs and are available
to all states. Arkansas worked with state and country technical committees
that ranked priorities for habitat management in that state. President
Hess reported on the Landowner Incentive Program, and indicated that
habitat conservation seems to be key for many federal programs; Tribal
grants, which may include competitive grants; and reauthorization of the
motorboat fuels tax, which has to occur this fall/winter or these funds
will not continue to flow into the Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration
program.
Funding support – FMS continued financial support of many efforts. Last
year, we supported the International Stream Restoration Workshop held in
Ireland, supported student travel through the Equal Opportunity Section to
the AFS annual meeting, and supported travel of fisheries staff from other
countries through the International Endowment Fund. Randy Schultz (KS)
reported that the FMS and the Southern Division Reservoir Committee paid
for special reprints of the White Bass Ecology and Management Symposium
module that was sent to FMS members and Southern Division Reservoir
Committee members who do not currently receive the North American Journal
of Fisheries Management (NAJFM). NAJFM Coeditor Mike Hansen (WI) reported
that a similar crappie module would soon be out, and that a walleye module
had recently been published by NAJFM. Jeff Boxrucker (OK) indicated that
these efforts have been made and supported by FMS to make the NAJFM more
germane to field managers! Vaughan Paragamian (ID) reported on continuing
sales of Burbot: Biology, Ecology and Management (FMS Publication Number
1) and provided a $1,200 check to FMS for this year’s sales proceeds.
Membership – President Tim Hess reported that FMS membership is
fluctuating between 700 and 800, which Jeff Boxrucker (OK) reminded us
still makes it the largest section in AFS.
FMS Survey Results – Tim Hess reported briefly on the results of the
section survey, reporting that membership services and continuing
education, information transfer and outreach by AFS, and aquatic
stewardship are priorities of our membership. He will provide these
results to incoming President Steve Rideout (MA). Fred Harris (NC),
incoming AFS President, had three suggestions for FMS that were related to
the AFS strategic plan. The North American fisheries action plan will be
updated beginning this year, and President Harris wants FMS involvement.
AFS will be developing a plan to get science-based information to various
publics, and again FMS involvement is needed. Finally, FMS should play a
big role in international outreach efforts by AFS. Fred indicated that the
management perspective that Chris Kohler (IL) will provide to AFS as
incoming 2nd vice-president pleased him. Jeff Boxrucker (OK) reported that
the AFS Publications Overview Committee wants to disseminate technical
information in a more popular form, such as past efforts by FMS in the
North American Fisherman.
Status of the June 2003 Symposium on “Propagated Fishes in Resource
Management” – Dirk Miller (WY) reported for Ron Remmick that the symposium
will be held 16-18 June 2003 in Boise, ID, in conjunction with the
Fisheries Administrators Section meeting. The steering committee wants FMS
to provide two speakers on two issues for propagated fishes in a
point-counterpoint type of session. The FMS can cover travel costs for Ron Remmick for a planning meeting in Iowa in December, if needed. There was
also discussion of whether FMS could help with travel costs for our
sponsored speakers, if necessary.
Electrofishing injury study update – Jeff Boxrucker reported on the
results of this $250,000 federal aid project, which supported a Ph.D.
student at Auburn University and an M.S. student at Mississippi State
University. A 280-page final report ha been completed, and approximately
10 peer-reviewed publication are anticipated. The projected filled the
void in our knowledge of electrofishing effects for warmwater fishes, as
most of the previous work involved coldwater and coolwater species.
Hopefully, this will lead to more care in when and how we use
electrofishing, so as to avoid some of the previous controversy such as
occurred for electrofishing of coldwater fishes.
Electrofishing white paper/manuscript initiative – Bob Hughes (OR) and
Jim Reynolds (AK) proposed a two-part initiative for the FMS. First,
Reynolds and Dan Schill (ID) are completing a meta-analysis that will
overview published and grey literature on probability of population-level
effects from electrofishing. Initially, the publication was intended for
Fisheries, but Mike Hansen (WI) suggested that such a paper should be
published in the scientific literature, and would be ideal for a lead
article in an upcoming issue of NAJFM. Second, a FMS committee chaired by
Reynolds and Hughes would prepare a guideline-oriented manuscript for
Fisheries that would compare effectiveness of electrofishing and
alternative methods, and provide recommendations for appropriate use of
electrofishing. The consensus was that these were important tasks for FMS;
the information needs to be summarized, professional conclusions should be
drawn, and recommendations should be made. Funding needs should be modest,
supporting committee work and publications costs, and Jeff Boxrucker (OK)
reminded attending members that FMS had previously approved up to $5,000
to support publication of the electrofishing injury study.
Old business not on agenda – Mike Fraidenberg (WA) discussed a book on
“Lessons Learned,” based on career experiences of natural resource
professionals. Much of our careers involve continual learning, and it
often is difficult to get this information to the next generation of
career professionals. The intent is to obtain interviews from seasoned
professionals. As one example, Mike Dombeck (WI) has agreed to be
interviewed for this project. Mike requested that FMS provide a grant to
help cover his travel costs for the interviews. Jeff Boxrucker (OK) moved
and Larry Connor (FL) seconded that the section provide $2,500 for this
project. The motion carried unanimously.
New officers were installed, and President Steve Rideout (MA) presided
over the remainder of the meeting.
NEW BUSINESS
The first order of business for Steve was to present outgoing president
Tim Hess with a Certificate of Appreciation for his service to FMS.
Requests for funding – 1) Chris Kohler (IL) moved and Jeff Isely (SC)
seconded that FMS provide $500 to the Equal Opportunities Section to
continue support of student travel to the AFS annual meeting. The motion
carried without dissent. 2) After an overview of the Warmwater Streams
Committee (Southern Division) video by Chris O’Bara (WV), Larry Connor
(FL) moved and Steve Filipek (AR) seconded that FMS provide $500 for VHS
copies of the video to be sent to each chapter and student subunit in AFS.
Motion carried. 3) Dana Schmidt and Bruce Ward provided an overview of the
upcoming World Fisheries Congress, 2-6 May 2004 in Vancouver, British
Columbia. Jeff Boxrucker (OK) moved and Steve Lochmann (AR) seconded that
FMS provide $2,500 for the general fund of the World Fisheries Congress,
and would consider another $2,500 next year. Motion carried.
Monetary values of fishes update – Andy Loftus (MD) reported that the
Socioeconomics Section and the Southern Division were updating the AFS
publication on monetary value of fishes. He requested that when states
received the surveys, they be completed and returned. They are seeking
volunteers for an advisory committee on fish growth standards by region.
Web-based newsletter? – Jim Garvey (IL) discussed the advantages and
disadvantages of FMS going to a web-based newsletter. The obvious concern
is cost, as the last newsletter cost the section approximately $1,000 for
printing and postage. After discussion, we will move toward a web-based
newsletter in .pdf format, although hard copies can still be printed and
mailed to members who requested such a format.
Suggestions for the 2003 meeting – President Rideout requested that all
symposium or workshop suggestions for the Quebec meeting be forwarded to
him.
Meeting was adjourned at 7:25 p.m.
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