Southern Division American Fisheries Society EXCOM Meeting Minutes October 2002

President Jeff Boxrucker called the EXCOM Meeting to order at 0810. Secretary/Treasurer Dick Luebke determined there was a quorum present. No official proxies were present. President Boxrucker recognized Past Presidents Mike Meador, Rich Noble, Fred Harris and Scott Van Horn; Fred Harris was also recognized as the AFS President.

AFS President’s Remarks: Fred Harris wanted to mention two items. The first involved underepresentation within the AFS membership, especially undergraduate students and marine folks. The Society is making a push to bolster participation from these groups. Secondly, he addressed leadership training and discussed how an ad hoc committee is looking at the best ways to accomplish it for the Society.

President Boxrucker asked for a motion to move item 6 on the agenda (chapter representative to Leadership Committee) and place it before item 2 (officer reports). Dick Luebke so moved and Mike Meador seconded. The motion carried. President Boxrucker volunteered to represent the Division on the Leadership Committee and Dick Luebke volunteered to represent the Texas Chapter.

President’s Report: Jeff Boxrucker’s report stood as printed in the Briefing Book. However, he did highlight the various activities of the ad hoc Leadership Committee over the past year, especially the workshops presented at the annual AFS meeting in Baltimore.

President-Elect’s Report: Steve Filipek’s report stood as printed in the Briefing Book. He also highlighted his interaction with the folks in North Carolina regarding conflict resolution training to be provided at the 2003 spring meeting.

Secretary/Treasurer’s Report: Dick Luebke indicated the financial portion of his report was pretty straightforward. He presented a proposed FY2003 Division budget and reviewed specific elements. President Boxrucker asked Rich Noble to briefly explain details regarding the Jack Dequine Scholarship. A motion was made by John Prentice and seconded by Mike Meador to approve the proposed 2003 budget. The motion carried. A motion was made by Steve Filipek and seconded by Bob Curry to accept the minutes from the spring 2002 EXCOM meeting as they appeared in the Briefing Book. The motion carried. President Boxrucker asked Dick Luebke to submit minutes from the 2001 fall business meeting in Louisville and the 2002 spring EXCOM meeting in Little Rock to the newsletter folks for inclusion in the next newsletter for archiving purposes. The former will have to be approved a the 2003 spring meeting if a quorum is not available at the business meeting on 29 October 2002.

Vice President’s Report: Larry Connor’s report stood as printed in the Briefing Book.

Immediate Past President’s Report: Mike Meador’s report stood as printed in the Briefing Book.

Chapter Reports:

Alabama – None given.

Arkansas – None given.

Auburn University – Report stood as printed in Briefing Book.

Florida – Report stood as printed in Briefing Book.

Georgia – Report stood as printed in Briefing Book. In addition, a representative indicated the chapter would be holding a workshop at their annual meeting.

Kentucky – None given.

Louisiana – None given.

Mississippi – None given.

North Carolina – Report stood as printed in Briefing Book. Scott Van Horn added that Duke Energy’s environmental lab was pretty much closed down.

Oklahoma – None given.

Potomac – None given.

South Carolina – Report stood as printed in Briefing Book.

Tennessee – Report stood as printed in Briefing Book.

Texas – Report stood as printed in Briefing Book. John Prentice added that the annual meeting was scheduled for January 27-29 at Moody Gardens in Galveston.

Texas A&M – Report stood as printed in Briefing Book.

Tidewater – None given.

Virginia – None given.

Virginia Tech – None given.

West Virginia – Report stood as printed in Briefing Book. Pat Mazik added they now have a student subchapter and will hold a PowerPoint workshop.

Student Subchapters – None given.

Audit Committee Report: John Prentice’s report stood as printed in the Briefing Book. At his recommendation, Dick Luebke moved and Steve Filipek seconded to authorize the purchase of Microsoft Money (software) for the Division to maintain financial records. The motion carried.

Awards Committee Report: None given. However, President Boxrucker indicated awards traditionally presented at the fall meeting in conjunction with the SEAFWA conference would from now on instead be presented at the spring meeting. He would, however, present Best Paper and Runner Up awards for last year’s SEAFWA presentations at the fall business meeting.

Mail Ballot Committee Report: Keith Ashley’s report stood as printed in the Briefing Book. President Boxrucker announced that Pat Mazik, Vic DiCenzo and Bill Fisher were elected as the new Vice President, Secretary/Treasurer and AFS Nominating Committee Representative, respectively. Use of a separate mailing for ballots appeared to have improved voter participation in the elections.

Membership Committee Report: Report stood as printed in the Briefing Book.

Nominating Committee Report: Report stood as printed in the Briefing Book.

Program Committee Report: Report stood as printed in the Briefing Book. Steve Filipek added that John Galvez has agreed to serve another term as Associate Editor.

Resolutions Committee Report: None given.

Student Affairs Committee Report: Stuart Welsh reported that the Student Colloquium will be held at Tennessee Tech in November and undergraduate participation should be good. Plans call for somewhat modifying the mentoring luncheon to better pair mentors and students at the upcoming spring meeting.

Anniversary Committee Report: Rich Noble mentioned that an article had appeared in the August issue of Fisheries. Also, a poster presentation was made at the annual AFS meeting and he would be making a plenary session presentation at this SEAFWA meeting which would be published in the annual proceedings. President Boxrucker congratulated the committee members for an outstanding job over the past several years.

Communications Committee Report: None given.

Leadership Development Committee Report: President Boxrucker indicated the materials relative to this committee had already been covered in his President’s Report.

Aquaculture Committee Report: Report stood as printed in the Briefing Book.

Pollution Committee Report: Report stood as printed in the Briefing Book.

Small Impoundments Committee Report: Report stood as printed in the Briefing Book.

Reservoir Committee Report: None given.

Striped Bass Committee Report: Scott Van Horn indicated there was not enough activity during the past year to report anything.

Trout Committee Report: None given.

Warmwater Streams Committee Report: None given.

Instream Flow Committee Report: Report stood as printed in the Briefing Book.

Nongame Aquatics Committee Report: Report stood as printed in the Briefing Book.

Appointed and Elected Positions:

AFS Nominating Committee Representative – Scott Van Horn indicated the Division had a couple candidates on the ballot this past year.

Newsletter Editor – None given.

SEAFWA Proceedings, Fisheries Editor – Report stood as printed in the Briefing Book. Pat Mazik added that a new review sheet greatly improved the quality of peer reviews this past year.

SEAFWA Director’s Liaison – Report stood as printed in the Briefing Book.

Watson Award Committee Representative – None given. President Boxrucker added that Jack Dequine was nominated for the award, but not chosen.

AFS Continuing Education Committee Representative – None given.

2003 Spring Meeting Planning Committee -- Report stood as printed in the Briefing Book. Bob Curry encouraged everyone to attend the meeting. President Boxrucker announced that the 2004 spring meeting would be held at the Weston Hotel in Oklahoma City February 26 through March 1.

Rich Noble added that the North Carolina State University subchapter has worked with Fred Janssen to get Division anniversary materials on the Division website. Any chapters not responding with their posters were encouraged to do so as soon as possible so that task could be completed.

SEAFWA/SD Expanded Interactions: President Boxrucker held a brainstorming session to entertain ideas for improving SEAFWA fisheries paper submissions and attendance. A list of items were developed including ways to improve the Proceedings, including workshops in the agenda, conducting a basic survey of the target audience of the meeting and encouraging more interaction between the various disciplines in the program. Discussion indicated the meeting has generally evolved from the traditional field biologist audience to one of more middle/upper management. It was suggested that it might help if the meeting were patterned more after that of the North American Widlife and Game Management Conference.

Review of “Uses of Fish in Research”: President Boxrucker indicated John Nickum came to the last Governing Board meeting with a revised document but the board wanted further review to take place. President Boxrucker thought it best to provide one blanket review from the Division and let someone from academia (e.g., Rich Noble) lead the charge. President Boxrucker agreed to send the draft to Rich and Rich said he would try to involve someone from a state agency to assist him.

President Boxrucker adjourned the meeting at 1130.