| Archives | Reports and Minutes |

Western Division of the American Fisheries Society
EXCOM Teleconference Minutes
Date: May 21, 2002

Participants:  Eric Knudsen, Don MacDonald, Tom McMahon, David Manning, Mark Smith, Scott Tolentino, Tony Faast, George Guillen, Mark Brouder, David Wiswir, Eric Wagner, Allen Bingham, Gary Birch

2002 Annual Meeting—Don MacDonald

  • The recent meeting in Spokane was a huge success, with approximately 800 people in attendance. 
  • The plenary information will be available on the web soon.
  • Allison has many photos and is working on submitting some to Fisheries.
  • Eric and Don will work together to write up a brief summary of the meeting that will be in the next Tributary and will also be submitted to Fisheries.
  • The net proceeds for the WDAFS from the meeting will be $6,000 (total of $10,000 minus the cost of the business meeting breakfast, which was $4,000).

2003 Annual Meeting Update—Tom McMahon, David Manning, and Mark Brouder

  • Tom, David, and Mark will be traveling to San Diego on June 28th.
  • The deposits for the Scripps Institute and Hyatt have been made, and we have increased the number of rooms reserved at the Hyatt for the meeting and now have almost the whole facility reserved.
  • A lot of volunteers were recruited at the recent Cal-Neva annual meeting in Lake Tahoe.  Jim Steel (President-Elect) has volunteered for fundraising, and Margaret Roper will work registration.  Volunteers are still needed to chair sessions.
  • The first call for papers was sent to Eric on Friday, and will be advertised in Fisheries, the Tributary, on our website, and via broadcast email.  It was agreed that the deadlines for symposia proposals will be September 30th, and the deadline for abstracts and posters will be January 17th.
  • Student papers will be judged and a ‘Best Student Paper' will be awarded.
  • It was suggested that presenters be required to pay registration fees, and also to provide a daily registration rate.
  • Eric proposed that the difference in member/non-member registration rates for the meeting be the cost of membership fees into AFS.  The Alaska Chapter does this and has seen an increase in AFS membership since it was started. 
  • We would also like to have a scholarship program for Mexican participants, especially students, to make their attendance at the meeting more feasible.  There was also a discussion about having translators at the meeting and a bilingual person helping with registration.  It was also proposed that we have someone from LaPaz on the planning committee.

2004 Annual Meeting Update—Eric Wagner

  • Before the meeting in Spokane, Eric obtained cost estimates from a variety of hotels from Salt Lake City and Park City, Utah.  He also contacted a hotel in Ogden.  So far, it appears that the most feasible location will be in Salt Lake City at either the Little America or West Coast Hotel.  Both facilities have nice meeting rooms, but the exhibit area at the West Coast hotel is limited.  Both hotels are close to downtown.  If we decided to have the meeting in Park City, rooms would be $199/night in March and $99/night in April, plus an additional cost for airport shuttle to the hotel. 
  • Eric and Scott agreed to do more research and make a recommendation soon, and we need to submit a deposit to the facility ASAP to secure our rooms—things are filling up quickly.

Correspondence with Mexican Fisheries—Eric Knudsen

  • Eric, Bern Megrey, and Ken Beal spent time with Mexican fisheries scientists talking about AFS involvement during a recent meeting in LaPaz.  They had a very strong response, and there is even talk of starting a new Chapter.  The Mexican fisheries biologists are interested in organizing a symposium for the upcoming annual meeting to be held in San Diego, probably focusing on pelagic species near Baja.
  • The Division recently contributed $532.00 to sponsor 14 gift memberships for scientists/students in Mexico.  The International Fisheries Section also sponsored 14 memberships.

World Fisheries Congress—Eric Knudsen

  • The Division still has an opportunity to take part in the WFC meeting.  We need a volunteer to bridge the gap between the WFC and WDAFS.  Gary Birch will address the NPIC Executive Committee looking for a volunteer.

 Newsletter

  • June 1st will be the deadline for contributions to the upcoming Tributary.  The target mail date is July 1st. 

 Cutthroat Conservation Documentary

  • Bruce May and Ken McDonald will co-chair this ad hoc committee.  Chapter representatives will also be added to the committee.

  • A draft contract between the Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks and the Division has been drawn up.  Total income so far for the project are $54,000 and costs total $71,800.  The committed is in the process of raising the additional funds to bridge the gap.  Montana State University will produce the documentary.

  • The Division will be in charge of processing incoming funding and dispersing funds for production of the documentary.  The Executive Committee agreed that the Division officers will be charged with approving the contracts, etc.

Environmental Concerns Committee—Klamath River Flow Issue

  • Bob Wunderlich (Chair, Environmental Concerns Committee) and Mike Belchik (Senior Biologist, Yurok Tribe) joined the call to discuss this issue.  Bob has reviewed the discussions from Spokane and has been investigating how we will go about appointing 3-4 impartial reviewers from outside the basin to review the situation and produce a position paper.  The paper will be approved by the Policy Review Committee and then sent through the Executive Committee.  We must follow the Advocacy policy on this, remain unbiased, and be careful not to directly criticize the NAS.
  • This will be a big job, and it was generally agreed that the review should take an ecosystem approach and consider the impact of all species involved.  Mike will provide Bob with a list of contacts from the upper basin that are more knowledgeable about species within the lake system. 
  • It was generally agreed that we will need to find a funding source to provide stipends to reviewers. 
  • Target date for release of the AFS paper will be this fall (2002).
  • George Guillen, Bob, and Mike will arrange a conference call later to increase the focus of these discussions and make further recommendations to the Executive Committee