Candidate Statement for WDAFS Vice President

E. Eric Knudsen

I began my fisheries science career by entering the University of Massachusetts in 1970, graduating in 1974 with a B.S. in Fisheries Biology. Some summertime fish-squeezing convinced me I was on the right path. Next stop was Louisiana State University for an M.S. in Fisheries Science, completing research on brown shrimp and Atlantic croakers. I was then selected for a fisheries biologist position with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Olympia, Washington, working primarily on fisheries biology issues surrounding the "Boldt Decision". I returned to LSU in 1981 to research the effects of water control structures on estuarine-dependent fisheries resources and used that opportunity to obtain my Ph.D. In 1987, I returned to the USFWS in Olympia to serve as Assistant Project Leader. After attending the 1989 AFS meeting in Anchorage, the call to Alaska was too strong to resist, so in 1994 I took an opportunity as Fisheries Research Team Leader at the USGS-Alaska Biological Science Center. In fall of 1998, I was selected as Chief of the Marine and Freshwater Ecology Branch at USGS-ABSC. My recent professional focus has been on Pacific salmon population ecology, most notably serving as Senior Editor of the book Sustainable Fisheries Management: Pacific Salmon to be published in September, 1999.

I have been a member of AFS since 1972. In Louisiana, I served as Chapter Secretary/Treasurer/Newsletter Editor for two years and organized and chaired the Chapter annual meeting in 1984. Back in Olympia in 1987, I became involved in North Pacific International Chapter activities, serving a stint on the Environmental Concerns Committee and organizing several symposia for annual meetings. I am now a member of the Alaska Chapter and chair the Chapter’s Environmental Concerns Committee, having organized sessions and workshops for annual meetings. At the Western Division level, I have organized and chaired meeting sessions, and served on the Program Committee for the 1998 annual meeting in Anchorage. I have participated in many parent Society annual meetings over the years, organizing several symposia, chairing sessions, and often presenting papers.

The American Fisheries Society is a vital and essential organization and I want to do my small part to keep it that way. The AFS Divisions have at times been criticized as perhaps an unnecessary layer of AFS organizational structure. However, as some of my AFS mentors have pointed out, the Divisions serve a vital role, particularly in addressing issues covering a broader geography than represented by individual chapters. WDAFS has tremendous opportunities to serve its membership through professional unity and to provide a professional, scientific voice of reason in regional fisheries turmoil. To be most effective, for both the membership and the public, we need to strive toward the goals of efficient internal and external communication, strong membership, and productive committees. I believe the following improvements will set the stage for meeting those goals.

1. Implementation of a WDAFS web page.

2. Timely mailing of the "Tributary".

3. Annual meetings with diverse, attractive programs, advertised well in advance.

4. A shift of the annual meeting away from mid-summer.

5. Improved committee participation.

While these goals and actions seem important to me, I will always be listening to WDAFS members for input and ideas.