Fisheries Management Section,
American Fisheries Society
Annual Business Meeting Minutes
10 August 2003, Quebec City, Quebec
President Steve Rideout called the meeting to order at 3:00 p.m. and
Secretary-Treasurer Dirk Miller recognized that a quorum was present.
President Rideout recognized past FMS President Steve Filipek.
Glenn Miller of the Wisconsin Chapter invited everyone to attend the
2004 meeting in Madison.
Virgil Moore moved (Vaughn Paragamian second) that we dispense with
reading the minutes of the 2002 business meeting and approve them as
published. Motion carried unanimously.
The current FMS financial report prepared by Dirk Miller was
distributed to members and reviewed.
OLD BUSINESS
FMS Awards –Three candidates were elected into the FMS Hall of
Excellence this year: Angelo Incerpi, Del Graff and Larry Mitzner. Angelo
started his fisheries career in 1963 as an Assistant Regional Fisheries
Biologist for the Maine Department of Inland Fish and Wildlife in Ashland,
Maine. He moved to the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife in 1967.
Thirty- five years later he retired from the department as Director of
Operations. Del’s career with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission
covered a 37-year period. He began as a fisheries biologist in 1964 and
culminated his career as Fisheries Bureau Director in January of 2002.
Larry began his career with the Iowa DNR in 1966. In 1970 he moved to
south central Iowa and worked as a research biologist until his retirement
in 2003. Only Angelo was present at our business meeting and accepted his
award to a standing ovation by the membership.
Legislation – Ron Essig of the US Fish and Wildlife Service
reported on reauthorization of the Sport Fish Restoration Act. He also
discussed the Landowner Incentive Program and State Wildlife Grants.
Funding support – FMS continued financial support of many
efforts. We contributed $2,500 to the World Fisheries Congress and another
$2,500 to support travel of a German scientist to that meeting. Mike
Fraidenberg’s book project titled “Lessons Learned” also received $2,500.
We gave $500 each to the SDAFS warmwater stream video project and the
Equal Opportunity Student travel fund. Vaughn Paragamian (ID) reported on
continuing sales of Burbot: Biology, Ecology and Management (FMS
Publication Number 1) and provided a $300 check to FMS for this years’
sales proceeds.
Electrofishing injury study update – Jim Reynolds provided an
update on the project, indicating that it is near completion. Technical
publications are in progress but there is still need for a white paper.
Jim is joining the Peace Corps and will be unable to take the lead to see
that project to completion. Bob Hughes is still willing to work on the
project and a few more committee members are needed to assist. Jim
encouraged FMS members to get involved, indicating that a diverse
committee of 6 or 8 members would be appropriate. Dirk Miller reviewed
discussions he had with Jeff Boxrucker and indicated that someone from
Wyoming Game and Fish will work on the “white paper” project. More
volunteers are needed to assist with the project.
Jim Reynolds provided a handout “A proposed paradigm for
electroshock-induced injury in fishes”. This summarizes their projects
over the last several years and will come out in several publications
during 2004. They propose that the risk of electroshock-induced injury is
primarily a function of fish response, fish size and vertebral count.
Propagated Fish in Resource Management Symposium – Randy Jackson
briefly discussed the survey on the use of stocked fishes that was
conducted for this meeting, held in June of 2003. The survey was sponsored
by the Fisheries Management and Fisheries Administrators sections. Survey
results indicated that the stereotype of continued indiscriminant use of
stocked fishes by the fisheries management profession is not true. While
there are still areas for improvement, much progress and many changes have
been made over the last two decades. Complete survey results will be
published in the meeting proceedings.
NEW BUSINESS
Hutton Program – Christine Fletcher of AFS staff provided an
update on the program in urged more AFS members to get involved.
Infobase - Aaron Lerner from AFS staff provided an update on the
Infobase project, indicating that an additional 10 years of journals and
all 25 years of Fisheries technical articles will be available very soon.
Requests for funding – 1) Steve Filipek moved and Chris Horton
seconded that FMS provide $1,000 to the Hutton Program. The motion carried
without dissent.
Process for handling funding requests – President Rideout wants to
formalize the process for handling funding request to FMS. President-elect
Willis will chair a committee to consider the issue. It was suggested that
the Western Division has a process that may provide a starting point.
USGS-NBII Fishery and Aquatic Resource Node – President Rideout
gave an update on the project. He explained that this is targeting data
that should be of value to FMS members and encouraged support and
involvement. He also described a guidance committee that he and Dirk
Miller are serving on.
Suggestions for the 2004 meeting – President Rideout requested
that all symposium or workshop suggestions for the Madison meeting be
forwarded to him.
Awards Committee – Jeff Boxrucker will chair the awards
committee this year and would appreciate assistance.
Web-based newsletter – Fred Janssen would like to implement a
web-based newsletter and has some ideas on how to make it easier for
readers.
Burbot symposium – Vaughn Paragamian announced that there are
plans to hold the 2nd Burbot symposium at the 2005 AFS meeting in Alaska.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:50p.m.
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