February 2003 Meeting Minutes

Minutes of the Reservoir Committee
Spring Meeting
Wilmington, North Carolina
February 13, 2003

Members present:

Call to Order

Meeting was called to order by Chairman Fred Janssen at 9:00 am

Appointment of Secretary - South Carolina (Wade Bales)

Approval of Summer 2002 Meeting minutes

Motion to accept summer 2002 meeting minutes- approved

Financial Report

	Fred reported RC has $33,373, received $900 from book sales 12/2002
	Fred asked the RC should we leave investments with Merrill Lynch as is?
	Was suggested by group that Merrill Lynch representative meet with the RC at summer 2003 meeting to discuss investments/options
	Gene Gilliland asked if dividends payed for scholarships- Fred- not at this time
	Gene suggested looking at investments that pay dividends to money market account instead of reinvesting them- to be discussed with Merrill Lynch
	Fred reported although losses were incurred, monies have been spent on the habitat manuals, travel, and scholarships since downturn in the stock market

Old Business

Presentation of Past Chair Plaque - Fred presented a plaque to Mark Oliver (AR) for his past duties as RC chairman- thanks Mark!

Habitat Manual

	abiotic and biotic habitat manual now on the web- what to do next?
	Mark Webb now working on final TX report on habitat enhancement, will fill in the gaps on the current biotic manual (by summer 2003)
	Mark also wanted to know if forming a new Technical Committee on habitat is a need for the Division? (no formal proposal yet)
	Jeff Boxrucker- indicated new committees usually start out as Ad Hoc Committees- also indicated the Southeastern is in the process of change, and could be a good place for such a committee that would provide training across wildlife and fisheries- the time is good for such a proposal though it will take time to happen
	Stan Cook indicated the Southeastern directors would welcome such an idea to increase interest and technical paper submissions
	Mike Alexander- what would such a committee focus on since habitat is such a broad subject? Fred indicated it would probably focus on aquatic plants and reservoir habitat and that we could lose RC members to such a committee
	Other comments for habitat manuals: Are color pictures possible in the abiotic manual? Can we register with search engines so key word searches could get more people to our site?

Habitat Manual Marketing - Gilliland, Oliver, Heitman, Horton

Gene- Marketing items discussed thus far:

	Mailings via email- to states, biologists, NRCS, NALMS
	AFS master list- email to all AFS members
	Announce in publications such as Fisheries, BASS Times, Bass Pro Shops Catalog, state agency magazines
	Can we come up with a shorter site address? Fred J. will work on this to make it easier to link to the habitat manual site
	List our link on state agency websites and chapter websites
	Is there a need for interactive discussion area? Lots of discussion on this and decided it was better to list a disclaimer and have users contact their respective state biologists for specifics
	FAQ page more appropriate for our site- Gene asked everyone to go through the site and list questions that may come up for a FAQ page- send to Gene by April 1
	Fred J. needs to know what plants are prohibited by each state- members, please send these to Fred Janssen
	We need good photos of plants on the site accompanied by good disclaimer statements
	News releases will be sent to RC members for comments prior to release
	Mark Webb approached by the Corps of Engineers (WES) to produce an interactive CD for the biotic manual- discussion ensued, no decision on this

Catch and Release Symposium - Alexander

Mike Alexander reports there were eleven submission for the catch and release symposium- he thanked everyone that submitted papers for the session

Catch and Release Survey - Janssen

	no change in the status of this survey since the summer meeting, they were concerned about funding and the survey process
	Greg Summers- suggested partnership with BASS to survey their membership to find out what their motivations are for catch and release
	Discussion: Good idea- saves money and logistics, not all BASS members are tournament anglers so it�s a good cross-section for survey, overall a good project for the RC
	M. Allen suggested doing the survey through BASS and do general angler survey in two states to compare results
	Mike Colvin- motion to move forward with the potential BASS partnership survey (second by M. Allen)
	M. Allen and G. Gilliland to help with proposal to BASS
	Potential states to cooperate for comparisons to BASS survey: TX, OK, TN, SC
	Motion passed, asked Greg and T.O. Smith to proceed with project and update RC at the summer 2003 meeting

New Business

Hooking Mortality - Gene Wilde

	Gene Wilde gave presentation on LMB hooking mortality study and model development
	Discussion: Is this a project the RC needs to be involved with? The RC has never supported research outside student scholarships, RC research activities
	Some hooking mortality results already available
	How is this study applicable to management/regulative activities
	Much discussion on use of model information as it applies to reservoir management
	Fred Heitman- motion to appropriate funds ($2500) to this project (second by M. Allen)
	Discussion ensued again- see above
	Motion defeated- 8 to 5, funding for project not approved by RC

Tournament Mortality

	F. Janssen- overview of tournament mortality assessment project by Hal Shramm presented to fish chiefs
	Delayed mortality study done with adjoining states: TX-OK, AR-MO, KY-TN, FL-GA
	C. Horton- AR tried similar study, problem with treatment and control anglers
	AL- reported 6% mortality when fish transported to holding ponds instead of net pens
	Suggested that tagging (e.g. Bettoli striper study) would better assess delayed LMB mortality
	Also suggested looking at LMBV during such a study- some evidence LMBV increases from catch-holding-weigh-pens
	Fred indicated there was a meeting at 7:00pm on this project if anyone was interested in attending

New Project: Crappie Sampling

	F. Janssen- suggested a field study to assess different gear types for crappie sampling in conjunction with AR cove rotenones
	Discussion: too many crappie gear comparisons, crappie catch too lake specific to generalize methods, size structure, age and growth better than CPUE for population assessment, coves may not be indicative of entire population
	Mike Wood- hoop net approach has provided LA with much better size distribution that trap nets
	No decision on this project

Other New Business

	Mike Colvin- still has copies of white bass symposium if anyone needs a copy
	Position still available at Georgia Power- contact Scott Hendricks

Round Table Discussion

RC members discussed ongoing state and university activities- to be posted on the website- members please provide summaries to Fred Janssen

Summer Meeting

	Fred Janssen has suggested holding the summer 2003 meeting in Athens, TX
	Some discussion that July may be better due to field work schedules
	Fred asked RC to let him know what would work best for them

Meeting Adjourned @ 5:30pm