NCAFS March 2002 Newsletter

President's Message

Greetings! I would like to thank Bob Curry for all the work he did last year as the Chapter’s President. The Chapter is very active as a result of his leadership and I hope to continue that activity throughout this year.

Speaking of activities, the biggest event for the Chapter this year will be hosting the 2003 Spring Meeting of the Southern Division AFS. No, that is not a misprint. The name of the meeting has been changed from Midyear to Spring. At the Southern Division’s Executive Committee meeting last month in Little Rock, Arkansas, it was decided to conduct a greater share of the Division’s business, including officer installations and award presentations, at the Midyear meeting. This change was prompted by attendance at the business meetings. In recent history, more have attended the business meeting at the Midyear than have attended the annual business meeting at the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (SEAFWA) Conference. Since a greater share of the Division’s business was now going to be conducted at the midyear meeting, it was decided to have a spring and fall meeting rather than a midyear and annual meeting.

Arrangements for the 2003 Spring Meeting are progressing. I have invited the AFS Tidewater Chapter to conduct their annual meeting concurrent with ours. Details with the host hotel are being finalized and the planning committee chairs have been selected. More information on the meeting can be found in this newsletter. I would encourage each of you to review the committees and select one in which you are interested and volunteer to help. The general chair for the meeting is Kent Nelson and I am sure he would like to hear from you. (Email: Kent Nelson, General Chair for 2003 meeting)

Have a safe and happy Spring!

Shari Bryant

2002 Annual NCAFS Meeting

Approximately 70 fisheries scientists and students from around the state gathered at Duke Power Company on February 5 and 6 for the Chapter’s Annual meeting. A special thanks to Duke Energy for hosting the meeting. Also, thanks to Duke Energy and Progress Energy for providing financial support for the meeting.

It was a full two days. Two continuing education workshops were offered – one on GIS and the other on power analysis. A symposium on instream sand and gravel mining was held. Four speakers were invited to give presentations on instream mining in North Carolina as well as the effects of instream mining on stream geomorphology and ecology. Also, seven members and 9 students contributed presentations to the program.

Review the abstracts for the symposium or contributed presentations.(Word Doc)

Submitted by Shari Bryant

Awards Presented at the 2002 NCAFS Chapter Meeting

Award presentations were one of the highlights of this year’s Chapter meeting, and are one of the best tools the Chapter has to recognize outstanding contributions by both Chapter members and non-Chapter members, as well as the best presentations at our Annual Meeting. Here are the awards highlights from the 2002 meeting:

Best Paper Awards - This year one of the charges to the Awards Committee was to determine if the Best Student Paper Award should be renamed. The committee’s unanimous recommendation, which was enthusiastically approved by the EXCOM, was that the Best Student Paper Award of the NC AFS Chapter should henceforth be known as the Richard L. Noble Best Student Paper Award, in recognition of Rich’s outstanding commitment and career contributions to fisheries student education. Through his dedication to teaching and mentoring students, Rich has left an indelible mark on our profession.
Rich Noble finds out the Best Student Paper has been renamed in his honor.

Bob Barwick receives the first Richard L. Noble Best Student Paper Award from Rich Noble. Rich was called forward to assist Lawrence Dorsey, the Chair of this year’s judging team, to present the first Richard L. Noble Best Student Paper Award to Bob Barwick for his presentation entitled “Fish Populations Associated with Habitat Enhanced Piers and Woody Debris in Piedmont Carolina Reservoirs” coauthored by Tom Kwak, Rich Noble (how fitting!) and Hugh Barwick. Bob is pursuing his MS degree at NC State University under the direction of Drs. Tom Kwak and Rich Noble.

Bob made a clean sweep of it by also winning the 2002 W. Don Baker Memorial Award, which recognizes the overall best paper presented at the meeting.
Bob Barwick accepts the 2002 W. Don Baker Memorial Award from President Bob Curry.

Rich Fulford accepts the 2001 W. Don Baker Memorial Award from President Bob Curry. Rich Fulford was also recognized as the winner of the 2001 W. Don Baker Memorial Award for his presentation at last year’s meeting entitled “Scaling up in the study of recruitment dynamics: An example from Lake Michigan” coauthored by Jim Rice, Rich’s PhD advisor at NC State University.

Distinguished Service Award

The Distinguished Service Award recognizes Chapter members who have distinguished themselves by service to the Chapter, the American Fisheries Society, or the fisheries profession. This year the chapter presented two Distinguished Service Awards.

Chris Taylor, a PhD student at NC State University studying under the direction of Dr. Pete Rand, received the 2002 Distinguished Service Award in recognition of his contributions to the formation and success of the AFS student subunit at North Carolina State University. Chris played a pivotal role in establishing the subunit, helping to draft its Constitution, facilitate its acceptance as an official student organization on the NCSU campus, and secure the group’s official designation as a subunit with the North Carolina Chapter of AFS. However, that was not the limit of his contributions. Chris formed the energetic core of the subunit’s activities for several key years; he served as subunit president for the first two years after it was formally established, and helped to double student participation in that time. He also helped get the subunit website up and running, organized monthly meetings, and through his boundless enthusiasm cajoled many a reluctant student into not just coming to meetings but contributing to the subunit’s success. His motivation and enthusiasm helped lay the foundation for the thriving student subunit we have today.
President Bob Curry presents the 2002 Distinguished Service Award to Chris Taylor.

President Bob Curry presents the 2002 Distinguished Service Award to John Crutchfield. John Crutchfield, Project Analyst in the Environmental Services Division of Carolina Power & Light, received the 2002 Distinguished Service Award in recognition of his leadership in the field of fisheries science and his considerable personal efforts to promote our profession and enhance the reputation of our Chapter. Last summer John led our Chapter’s involvement in a cooperative effort with the Wildlife Society to host a very successful visit by Russian fisheries biologist Vlad Khokhriakov. Through his own efforts and his role in coordinating the involvement of other Chapter members John assured that our guest would have a great learning experience. John followed up his efforts by writing an article in Fisheries (Vol. 26(9):25) detailing the trip and highlighting the NC Chapter’s involvement in this exchange. He also went out of his way to promote our Chapter and our profession by writing an article for the popular media on the role of biologists in protecting the environment and the role of the NC AFS Chapter in these efforts. These efforts exemplify John’s record of service to our Chapter, which includes organizing excellent continuing education workshops for chapter members, initiating the feature in our newsletter highlighting students and young professionals, and serving in several Chapter offices, including President.

Fisheries Conservation Award

The Fisheries Conservation Award recognizes non-Chapter members who have distinguished themselves by service or commitment to the Chapter or the fisheries resources of North Carolina. This year the Chapter presented two Fisheries Conservation Awards.

Steve Reed, Aquatic Team Leader in the North Carolina Division of Water Resources and Jim Mead, Environmental Specialist in NCDWR, received the 2002 Fisheries Conservation Award for their career contributions protecting the integrity of riverine fisheries habitat in North Carolina. They are personally responsible for laying much of the foundation for instream flow policy in North Carolina, and have provided the labor, technical oversight, and analysis for most of the field studies that set existing instream flow requirements project by project around the state. In the late 1970’s the default minimum required flow below new dams in NC was a recipe for disaster for fish populations. Their efforts to establish better instream flow requirements and get instream flows integrated into basin-wide water management plans led the way for the Instream Flow Policy and Criteria document adopted by the State. Today we see the influence of their pioneering work on fisheries habitat through instream flow requirements incorporated in hydropower projects, municipal water withdrawals, dam relicensing and safety provisions, and other water projects. Both Steve and Jim are still at it, helping to shape the state’s continually evolving instream flow policy for the benefit of our state’s aquatic habitats.
Steve Reed and Jim Mead with their 2002 Fisheries Conservation Awards, presented by President Bob Curry.

Steve Melton accepts the 2002 Fisheries Conservation Award from President Bob Curry, on behalf of the Muddy Creek Watershed Restoration Initiative. The Muddy Creek Watershed Restoration Initiative received the 2002 Fisheries Conservation Award for its comprehensive stream restoration effort to control sediment loading from the Muddy Creek watershed to the Catawba River below Lake James. This effort to improve water quality and fish habitat and facilitate establishment of a trophy trout fishery in the Catawba is the result of a broad-based partnership involving a host of state and federal agencies, private companies and organizations, and individuals. A Watershed Restoration Plan was developed based on an exhaustive evaluation of stream conditions in the watershed, and nearly $1 million has been secured in funding and in-kind services to implement the plan over the next 10 years. Already, restoration work has been completed on 6,500 feet of the worst streambank erosion sites. The Initiative also has a major outreach and education component, which is educating citizens throughout the watershed and involving landowners in the restoration effort. This Initiative is making a dramatic, concrete improvement in North Carolina’s aquatic and fisheries resources, and at the same time is changing the way many people think about our stream resources, and creating a mentality fostering their appreciation, restoration and protection. The project is a model that can be followed in watersheds throughout the Catawba River basin and elsewhere.

And, there were some awards resulting from a “changing of the guard” within the Chapter. Bob Curry awarded Kim Baker a plaque of appreciation for his two years of service to the Chapter as Secretary-Treasurer.
President Bob Curry thanks Kim Baker, the Chapter’s outgoing Secretary Treasurer

President Shari Bryant congratulates Bob Curry and awards him a Past-President’s plaque And one of the last acts of the 2002 Business Meeting in Huntersville was the installation of the new President and the recognition of the immediate Past-President with a the Past-President’s plaque. Thanks Bob for all of your dedicated and hard work to the Chapter!

Submitted by Jim Rice Back to top

NCAFS Racks up more Awards at the SDAFS Meeting in Little Rock, AR

BILL PINE, NC State Doctoral Student, coadvised by Jim Rice and Tom Kwak, received the Jimmie Pigg Outstanding Student Achievement Award from the Warmwater Streams Technical Committee. Bill's research is on the ecology and biology of introduced flathead catfish population in NC rivers, and that effort is funded by the NC Wildlife Resources Commission, and their biologists cooperate in this research. Congratulations, Bill!
Bill Pine, NCSU Graduate Student receives the Jimmie Pigg Memorial Award from Chis O'Bara, President, Warm Water Streams Committee.

Bob Barwick, NCSU Graduate Student receives the Bob Jenkins Memorial Award from Gene Gilliland, SDAFS Reservoir Committee. BOB BARWICK, NC State Master's Student, coadvised by Rich Noble and Tom Kwak, received the Robert M. Jenkins Memorial Scholarship from the Reservoir Technical Committee. Bob also presented a paper on his thesis research entitled "Fish Populations Associated with Habitat-Enhanced Piers and Woody Debris in Piedmont Carolina Reservoirs." His research is a cooperative venture among NC State, the NC Wildlife Resources Commission, and Duke Power. Congratulations, Bob!

The NC STATE UNIVERSITY, AMERICAN FISHERIES SOCIETY STUDENT SUBUNIT OF THE NC CHAPTER received the first annual award for the Best AFS Student Subunit in the Southern Division. The NC State students have been very active and worked hard to be a successful subunit, and the award is much deserved. Congratulations, AFS Students!
Bill Pine, Rich Fulford, and Bob Barwick receiving the "Best Sub-Unit Award" on behalf of the NC State Student Sub-Unit of the NCAFS Chapter.

Hugh Barwick accepts the "Distinguished Service Award" on behalf of Duke Power Company from Gene Gilliland of the AFS Southern Division Finally, DUKE POWER COMPANY received the Distinguished Service Award from the Southern Division. They have been instrumental in facilitating and directly initiating and completing fisheries activities that benefit the fisheries profession and resources throughout the southeast. Congratulations Duke Power Biologists!

An Award of Intangible Sorts?
The definition of an expert for most folks (at least other Chapters in the SDAFS) is “Somebody from somewhere else”. For the NC Chapter it might be better stated as someone from our own Chapter! Take a look at the speakers in the plenary session celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Southern Division. Almost all these folks, with a few exceptions, might be seen at an Annual NCAFS Chapter Meeting.

Bill Pine and Rich Noble (NCSU), Jack Wingate (MN DNR), Larry Olmsted (Duke Energy), Scott Van Horn and Fred Harris (NCWRC), John Ney (VA Tech), and Mike Allen (Univ. of Fla.)

Thanks to all our Chapter members for your respective roles in facilitating success of these and other individuals and groups in our state -- when one of us shines, we all do!

Submitted by Tom Kwak

2003 SDAFS Spring Meeting, Wilmington, NC

Committee chairs (Word Doc) for the 2003 spring SDAFS meeting have been selected and are listed. Some even volunteered! A lot of you were involved with the Charlotte meeting so maybe no major faux pas will occur. Committee chairs will need help with many of the tasks so if they seek you out, please step up to the plate. Several Chapter members have spoken to me about assisting with the meeting and I'll pass your names on to the chairs.

General Chair	Kent Nelson	nelsonk3@earthlink.net	252-752-5425
Accommodations	Keith Ashley John Crutchfield	ashleykw@intrstar.net john.crutchfield@pgnmail.com	910-866-4250 252-208-7764
Audio-Visual	Christian Waters	watersct@coastalnet.com
Budget and Finance	Kim Baker Kimberly Sparks	bkbaker@duke-energy.com ksparks@rti.org	704-875-5455
Fund Raising	Hugh Barwick	dhbarwic@duke-energy.com	704-875-5459
Home Page	Joe Hightower	jhightower@ncus.edu	919-515-8836
Printing	Shari Bryant	bryants5@earthlink.net	336-449-7625
Program	Tom Kwak	tkwak@ncsu.edu	919-513-2696
Signs	Win Taylor	taylorwe@earthlink.net	336-221-8025
Registration	Bob Curry	curryrl@mail.wildlife.state.nc.us	919-733-3633 x280
Poster Session	Jim Borawa	borawajc@earthlink.net	828-299-7023
Raffle	NCSU Student Subunit	wepine@unity.ncsu.edu
Students	Student Affairs Section

Several of us attended the Little Rock meeting in February and will share our observations at the Chapter EXCOM meeting at NCSU Raleigh on April 10th which will also serve as the first organizational meeting for the 2003 meeting. We are currently on schedule according to the SDAFS time line according to the mid-year meeting procedures manual. Upcoming on the time line is to provide meeting information to the SDAFS newsletter and make a first call for papers and symposia. Most committee activities will commence this spring and summer, if they haven't begun already! I'm still learning the ropes of this job, but I know Bob Curry will keep me facing the right direction. Any questions or information, please email. (Email: Kent Nelson, General Chair for 2003 meeting) Thanks!

Submitted by Kent Nelson
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NCSU Student Subunit Report

The Student-Subunit continues to have an active schedule of meetings, social events, and community outreach for its’ growing membership. These activities earned the Subunit the “Best Student Subunit Award” from the Southern Division of the American Fisheries Society at the recent Southern Division Spring Meeting in Little Rock, Arkansas. The awards continued at the SDAFS Spring Meeting for Subunit members with Bob Barwick receiving the Bob Jenkins Memorial Award from the Reservoir Committee and Bill Pine receiving the Jimmie Pigg Memorial Award from the Warm Water Streams Committee. Subunit members Rich Fulford, Ed Malindzak, Drew Duetterr, Bill Pine, NCSU Research Associate Scott Waters, and NCSU faculty members Jim Rice and Tom Kwak stayed an extra few days in Arkansas to sample the tailwater trout fishery on the Little Red River. Although no line class records were set everyone had a great time.

Raffle grand prize was a canoe provided in part by ProCanoe of Raleigh The Subunit also raised approximately $500 at the NC Chapter Annual Meeting with the proceeds being used to fund student travel to meetings and also to sponsor a series of invited speakers. Thank you for your support in making our raffle a success. The Subunit hopes to jointly sponsor two nationally known speakers per year with a fisheries interest in conjunction with the Zoology Department at NC State. Our first speaker in this series will be Dr. Roy Stein from Ohio State University. Dr. Stein will be visiting with us between April 30 and May 2. Dr. Stein will be visiting the Subunit meeting on Tuesday April 30 and then presenting a special seminar on Wednesday afternoon in Garner Hall.

You can obtain more information and directions to campus on our website http://www.ncsu.edu/stud_orgs/sfs/ or please contact the current President, Bill Pine. (Email: wepine@unity.ncsu.edu)

Submitted by Bill Pine

Education Committee

We were very fortunate to have two excellent continuing education workshops at the 2002 Chapter Meeting. The first course, which was conducted on Tuesday morning, was an introduction to GIS using ArcExplorer. Kim Sparks of RTI was the instructor for this course. We had 15 participants in this course. Kim provided each participant with handouts and a customized CD with the course exercises and a copy of ArcExplorer so that participants could revisit the topics in the future. Kim did an excellent job on her preparation and the course evaluations reinforced this. Overall students were more than satisfied with the course content (Please follow these links for the course evaluation form (Word Doc) and a summary of the scores (Excel Spreadsheet). Kim also received high marks for her abilities as an instructor and the material she provided each student.

On Wednesday afternoon, Dr. Don Holbert from ECU conducted a statistics workshop focused on power analysis. Don covered the basics of power analysis and some examples taken directly from current fisheries research. He also demonstrated several of the most popular software packages available for conducting power analysis. Each student was provided with a course pack and demo copies/flyers on the software packages covered. We had 8 participants for this course. As with the GIS workshop, students were very satisfied with the course content and Don received high marks on his presentation style and handout material (see attachment with course evaluation sheet and scores). I would like to again thank both instructors for conducting these courses. Their skill and professionalism made my job extremely easy.

All participants in both courses indicated they would like additional topics to be offered at future meetings. I am beginning to organize workshops for the 2003 SDAFS Spring Meeting in Wilmington. If you have other ideas for courses, please contact me at E-mail: dorseylg@vnet.net

Submitted by Lawrence Dorsey
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Environmental Concerns Committee

The Environmental Concerns Committee presented a draft of the position paper titled Instream Sand and Gravel Mining Activities in North Carolina and a draft of the Resolution on the Construction of a Dual Jetty System at Oregon Inlet, Dare County, North Carolina to the membership at the Annual Chapter meeting in February 2002. Both the position paper and the resolution were voted on and approved by a majority of the membership during the business meeting. The special session titled Instream Sand and Gravel Mining provided a good opportunity for the membership to learn more about the subject and to hear differing points of view. Both the position paper and the resolution are in their final form and are published on the chapter site. Shari Bryant sent a copy of the resolution, along with a cover letter, to various officials, including the Council on Environmental Quality. The position paper will be mailed out shortly. I appreciate all of the hard work that committee members Duane Harrell, Judy Johnson, Pete Rand, and Chris Taylor put towards developing these papers and am pleased that they will continue to serve on this committee for the next year.
Instream Sand and Gravel Mining Symposium participants: Chris Hite, Alan Walker, Dave Braatz, and Arthur Brown

The next topic that the Committee will be working on is sedimentation. We decided that addressing this issue by first formulating a symposium at the upcoming Southern Division meeting that our chapter will be hosting in North Carolina may more effectively involve the membership. If anyone would like to participate in this effort please contact me or one of the other committee members.

The Committee has a request of the membership. We have collected a list of topics that were suggested by Chapter members. We would like to determine which issues are of most importance to the membership. Please go over the list and choose the top three that are a priority to you. Also, any additional topics are welcome. Please send your suggestions to me by May 31st.

Running List of Issues

		Sedimentation (we will be addressing this issue next).
		Beach renourishment.
		Develop a standardization of shoreline habitat terms - particularly for the various power companies in writing up their shoreline management plans.
		Addressing the issue of saltwater fishing licenses for North Carolina.
		Protection of the Roanoke River from adverse impacts.
		Supporting the proposal by the Non-Game section of NCWRC of priority conservation areas.
		A comprehensive Flood Plain Management or watershed proposal. This would encompass many issues, i.e. stream buffers, stormwater management, etc.
		Determine issues that could parallel the Wildlife Society, Freshwater Mollusk Conservation Society, or other societies - chance for collaboration - increases effectiveness.
		Road, house and resort development impacts on lower order streams in western part of state (actions leading to erosion, siltation, changes in thermal properties of stream, etc.).
		Global climate change.
		Mitigation - support the change of mitigation credits for preservation to more closely equal restoration/creation/enhancement.
		Introduction of non-natives, particularly black carp.
		Open space ... buffers ... low impact development ... impervious surface.
		Fish passage and hydroelectric projects.
		Marine stock enhancement.

Please contact Danielle if you would like to get involved penderdr@mail.wildlife.state.nc.us.

Submitted by Danielle Pender

** Special Hero Award **

Bob Curry, Fisheries Program Manager for the NCWRC and Past President of this Chapter, recently received the Governor’s Award for Safety and Heroism. The award, the highest the State can bestow on an employee, was presented by Governor Mike Easley in a ceremony last October.
While hunting in Bertie County, Bob responded to a vehicle fire. He found a teenager fighting the fire while an older asthmatic man lay nearby not breathing. Bob resuscitated the man, sent the teenager for help, and then fought the fire. Despite exploding bullets and oxygen canisters Bob battled several fires, all the while keeping an eye on the condition of the older gentlemen. Local fire crews and the NC Forestry Service finally came to Bob’s aid and contained the blazes. Bob’s training as a Boy Scout leader helped the older gentleman survive the ordeal while limiting the damage from the fires.
The NCAFS has benefited tremendously by Bob’s association with us. He guided the Chapter through 2001 and commanded an army that put on the best National meeting that the AFS has ever seen. We know he is a model of community involvement and compassion and hope that some of those traits will rub off on all of us. Congratulations Bob!

Bob Curry – OUR hero!
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Membership Committee

In December, the Ad Hoc Membership Committee presented to the EXCOM a list of recommendations to increase both Chapter and parent society membership by 10%. It was decided to act upon four of those recommendations due to their timeliness, while others will be developed further and implemented in the near future.

In preparation for the Annual Chapter meeting in February, efforts were made to promote the meeting to non-members. In addition, the committee developed a display for the meeting on the benefits of Chapter and parent society membership. If any one has the opportunity to promote AFS membership and would like to use this display, please contact a member of the Ad Hoc Membership Committee.

Also at the annual meeting, the committee conducted a drawing for several one-year memberships to the parent society (two student and one young professional). A total of 11 students and 3 young professionals participated in the drawing. Rob Aguilar and Bill Pine received student memberships, and Brian Burke received the young professional membership. These memberships were sponsored by Chapter members who have been members of AFS for at least 15 years. A total of 15 donations were received for a total of $136. The committee would like to thank those that donated. In addition, AFS provided a hat and t-shirt to be given away, and the hat went to Chris Taylor while Wes Neal won the t-shirt.
Christian Waters awards prizes to NCSU Student members Chris Taylor and Wes Neal.

A comprehensive Chapter membership list has been developed. This list will be updated annually allowing trends in membership to be more effectively tracked. Non-members can also be identified and targeted for membership. The committee is currently updating the 2002 Chapter membership, so look for an update on Chapter membership statistics in the next newsletter.

If you have any thoughts about increasing membership or are interested in serving on the membership committee, please contact committee chair Christian Waters by phone at (252) 208-7764 or Watersct@coastalnet.com.

Submitted by Christian Waters

Nominations Committee

Hugh Barwick reported for Chad Thomas that, despite very close races for both offices, Tom Kwak will be our President-Elect and Kim Sparks our new Secretary-Treasurer. The Nominations Committee would like to thank all four candidates and the many Chapter members who took the time to vote!

Submitted by Chad Thomas

News from around North Carolina

NCAFS News from Rich Noble or Speechless in Huntersville - Well, you got me—good! What a wonderful way to be recognized! I’ve received several significant AFS awards over past few years (some say they’re “over the hill awards”), but NCAFS hit me in the soft spot by naming the Best Student Paper in my honor. Had I had time (and sense) to think, I might have responded with one or more of the following: (seriously) I am truly honored, as students represent the future of our profession, they do such good work that is presented so well that it stimulates us all to greater heights, and it has been so personally rewarding to have been a part of so many students’ career development; (not so seriously) No plaque for me?; (probably most applicable) Well, does this imply that I’m dead?; (and most worrisome) I don’t have to endow this award, do I?

That said, I do want to make a point, slightly revised, that I’ve made to many students over the years: Please do not strive to win this (or any best paper) award. Instead, recognize that you have important accomplishments to share. Tailor your message to the forum in which it is to be presented. Deliver your material as best you can—to leave your audience with a take-home message that they’ll want to take home. If one does that, one will win a few awards, but will have many lasting impacts. Thank You, NCAFS, for honoring me in this way.

AFS News from Fred Harris - At the mid-year Governing board meeting Gus advised that AFS's budget will be solidly in the black again this year. We should make a significant contribution to the contingency fund again this year. Our auditors, who are not affiliated with Arthur Anderson, attended the meeting and advised us our books are in exceptionally good order, which was probably what Anderson told Enron's board.

About 103 members have taken advantage of the Young Professionals membership category. We need to keep pushing this category, as many members who are eligible for the reduced dues may be unaware of it.

Work is progressing on development of the AFS infobase. This project will digitize all the back issues of our journals and make them available on the web. This year we should complete digitizing our journals for the period 1988 - 1998.

The Hutton Junior Fisheries biologist Program continues to expand. We received a matching grant of $100,000 from the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation this year in addition to continuing support from the US forest Service.

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Spotlight on Students and Young Professionals

Spotlight on Jason Farmer, NCWRC Assistant Fisheries Biologist - I grew up in the hills of Georgia where I spent most of my free time hunting and fishing. After high school I attended Berry College in Rome, Georgia which boasts a deer herd larger than the student body. While attending Berry College, I participated in a cooperative education program with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. I graduated from Berry College in May 1999 and began graduate school at Tennessee Technological University in July 1999 under Jim Layzer. My research project focused on the abundance and distribution of larval fish in the lower French Broad River. While at Tennessee Tech, I assisted with several other research projects and served as Secretary/Treasurer of the Student Fisheries Association. I completed my master’s degree in August 2001.

I joined the Wildlife Resources Commission in September 2001 as the District 2 Assistant Fisheries Biologist stationed in Kinston. My work primarily involves the research and survey of resident gamefish populations in the Tar, Neuse, White Oak, and Northeast Cape Fear rivers as well as Lake Sutton. The species sampled include largemouth bass, sunfish, black crappie, and catfish. I also assist with the annual survey of anadromous species (striped bass, American shad, and hickory shad) in the Neuse River.

I now spend most of my free time reading about hunting and fishing, working with a local Boy Scout troop, and picking the guitar.

Spotlight on Bill Pine, NCSU graduate student - Bill developed an early interest in fisheries biology while in high school in Alabama and pursued it as an undergraduate at Auburn University. While at Auburn, he worked with Dennis DeVries on a project examining the relationship between hatch-date and survival of age-0 largemouth bass. Bill continued his fisheries education at the University of Florida with Mike Allen, where he completed a Master’s degree studying fish early life history, this time with black crappie in Florida lakes. Bill also participated in several other projects in Florida, including using simulation models to examine effects of variable recruitment on a manager’s ability to detect a change in population structure of largemouth bass and crappie species following implementation of a length limit. The resulting paper from this work was an honorable mention for the Best Paper in the 2000 volume of the North American Journal of Fisheries Management. After graduation, Bill worked for a few months as a UF research biologist, where he analyzed the population viability of Gulf sturgeon in the Suwannee River. He next migrated to North Carolina to work with Tom Kwak and Jim Rice at NC State University on a collaborative project with the NC Wildlife Resources Commission to examine the ecology of introduced populations of flathead catfish. Bill spends much of the spring and summer sampling in the NE Cape Fear River, Lumber River, and Contentnea Creek with “Team Flathead” (motley, but hard-working, crew of undergraduate students and research biologists intensely involved with the flathead catfish project).

Bill has been active in the AFS throughout his education and career. He is currently President of the NCSU Student Sub-Unit, which won the 2001 Best Student Sub-Unit Award from the Southern Division AFS at the recent Spring Meeting in Little Rock. Also at the Spring Meeting, Bill participated in the SDAFS 50th anniversary celebration by presenting a plenary talk on what he sees as the future of fisheries in the Southern Division over the next 50 years. He also received the Jimmie Pigg Outstanding Student Achievement Award from the Warmwater Streams Technical Committee at that meeting, and he received a Skinner Travel Award from the parent society to attend the 2001 meeting. Bill is also actively involved in documenting the history of the Southern Division and serves the parent society as a reviewer for journals and as a member of the publication awards committee.

Bill studies and appreciates all aspects of fisheries science, including angling, occasional harvest, culinary preparation, and consumption. Bill, his wife Julie, their yellow Lab, Maddie and Daschund Sara enjoy traveling around North Carolina and fishing together in “Tin Cup II,” Bill’s jon boat. An active angler, Bill continues to be puzzled on why Tarheel anglers insist on pursuing and eating shad, while nearly ignoring their flathead catfish populations both recreationally and consumptively.

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Meetings of Interest

Stream Restoration Workshop Series Using Natural Channel Design - Various dates, Clemson University, SC. A workshop series to introduce the principles of fluvial geomorphology for application in restoring impaired stream channels. http://depts.clemson.edu/extfor/courses/stream_restoration.htm

2002 Meeting of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists - July. 3-8, 2002, Kansas City, MO. http://www.dce.ksu.edu/dce/cl/2002jointmeeting/

132nd Annual Meeting of the American Fisheries Society - Aug. 18-22, 2002, Baltimore, MD. Turning the Tide: Forging Partnerships to Enhance Fisheries http://www.fisheries.org/annual2002/

2002 NC Stream Restoration Conference - Oct. 7-11, 2002, Wilmington, NC. Restoration in the Coastal Plain: Stream and Wetland Processes http://www.ncsu.edu/sri/Conference/Conference2002.html

56th Annual SEAFWA Conference - Oct. 13-17, 2002, Baltimore, MD. The Conference theme is “From the Chesapeake Bay to the Gulf – Keeping it Wild: Managing Our Resources in the Face of Increasing Development” http://www.seafwa2002.org

2003 NCAFS Annual Meeting and the 2003 SDAFS Spring Meeting - Feb. 12-16, 2003, Wilmington, NC. Stay tuned to this website for more details.

If you are aware of meeting information that would be beneficial to the membership of the NCAFS, please send it to the newsletter editor for inclusion in the next newsletter. E-mail: djcoughl@duke-energy.com

Employment Opportunities

Fishery Biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service, Northeast Regional Office, Habitat Conservation Division, Gloucester, MA. Announcement Number: E-NMF-FR-02175.SDT PP/Series/Grade: ZP/0482/02

Check out http://www.jobs.doc.gov and Click on "Search". On the next page scroll down to "National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration". Look for the Announcement Number.

An ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENTIST opportunity now available in the Baltimore, MD region with an established consulting firm. BS or MS degree required in geomorphology, ecology/biology, hydrology, geology or related natural resources discipline, plus knowledge of sediment transport, applied fluvial geomorphology, natural channel design principals, channel stabilization solutions, and aquatic habitat improvements. Experience with geomorphic field assessment techniques, channel design computations and layout, and construction oversight for: stream/river stabilization/restoration, bioengineering, wetland and riparian enhancements preferred. Gannett Fleming, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer offering competitive salaries and excellent benefit packages. Send, fax or e-mail resume (including cover letter and project descriptions), and salary history to: GANNETT FLEMING, INC., 4701 Mt. Hope Drive, Baltimore, MD 21215, Attn: Joel E. Smith, Fax: 410 585-1460, E-mail: jesmith@gfnet.com

Repeat of a previous announcement - The student listserve at NCSU has numerous and frequent job openings or announcements of graduate assistantships. The quarterly format of this newsletter does not permit the timely dissemination of this information. Please contact the Student Subunit for directions on subscribing to the listserve so that you can get this information quickly.

Fishery related jobs can be found on the AFS web site at: http://www.fisheries.org/jobs.html This site also offers links to job postings on non-AFS web sites.

If you have a fishery-related job opening and would like to post it in the next NCAFS Newsletter, please send your announcement to the newsletter editor. E-mail: djcoughl@duke-energy.com

Valuable Links - Courtesy of AFS

The American Fisheries Society Home Page offers a wealth of links to assist you in your fishery endeavors. Information on ordering AFS books, public outreach, annual meetings, chapter links and joining the AFS can be found at http://www.fisheries.org/

Additional links can be found courtesy of Dr. Mike Allen and the Southern Division, AFS. http://www.sdafs.org/links/msallen1.htm

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