georgiaafs newpost

SDAFS Best Student Subunit Award goes to UGA Subunit

The 2020 Annual Southern Division of the American Fisheries Society meeting was very rewarding for the University of Georgia Student Subunit (Subunit).  For the first time ever, the Subunit was awarded the Best Student Subunit for their 2019 accomplishments.  Congratulations to all the members of the Subunit (led by faculty advisor Dr. Robert Bringolf and UGA Subunit Presidents Alex Pelletier and Gina Alvarez) on achieving this honor.

The Subunit began 2019 with an impressive showing of presentations and posters at the annual Georgia Chapter AFS meeting at Lake Blackshear in Cordele, GA.  Seven student members of the Subunit gave oral presentations, while 3 participated in the poster session.  Furthermore, one student Subunit member earned the Ronnie J. Gilbert academic scholarship, which is presented annually to one outstanding fisheries student by the Georgia Chapter.

The Subunit had a long list of additional accomplishments in 2019, including hosting the annual Fish Fry; participating in Rivers Alive to help clean up around Carriage Lane Creek in Athens; helping Boy Scouts earn their Fishing Merit Badge; teaching kids how to fish during the Kids Fishing Day event at Sandy Creek Nature Center; and hosting workshops for Adopt-A-Stream Macroinvertebrate Certification, Coastal Fish Identification.  Additional events in which the Subunit participated include CoastFest 2019 (hosted by the Georgia DNR Coastal Resources Division in Brunswick) and the annual Bioblitz.  Regarding CoastFest 2019, Subunit President Gina Alvarez joined GA Chapter AFS Executive Sec-Treasurer Rebecca Brown in manning a GAAFS booth at the event, which drew over 10,000 people.  Ms. Alvarez and Ms. Brown shared information about our Chapter, including the Subunit, and educated participants using a wonderful educational tool, the Fish Box, which was provided by the Georgia Museum of Natural History, a GA AFS sponsor.  In a second event, Bioblitz, the Subunit challenged Clemson for the most species identified.  After a fun yet vigorous challenge, UGA won…better luck next year Clemson!

Additional contributions made by the Subunit in 2019 included monetary support.   The Subunit made a generous donation to the Georgia Chapter AFS annual meeting to help support the annual social/poster mixer.  The GA AFS Social/Poster Mixer is a way for students and professionals to interact in addition to students and professionals presenting their research.  Additionally, the Subunit made a donation through an Embrace a Stream Challenge to help support the Chattahoochee River Wild Trout Improvement Project.  This project involves the restoration of Crayfish Creek, a tributary of the Chattahoochee River north of Atlanta.  The goal of the project is to improve the water quality of Crayfish Creek by stabilizing eroded streambanks, removing non-native debris, and restoring native riparian vegetation.  Each of these financial contributions provided much-needed assistance and is greatly appreciated.

Final noteworthy achievements made by the Subunit in 2019 included hosting several presentations during monthly Subunit meetings.  Topics of presentations included how to find a job in fisheries; water connectivity; the plasticity of pallid sturgeon in the Midwest; Georgia DNR Bass Slam; oyster aquaculture; and lionfish acoustics.

On behalf of the entire GA AFS Chapter, we extend our utmost congratulations to the Subunit on a wonderful 2019!  Keep up the great work, and we look forward to reading and hearing about your 2020 accomplishments!

georgiaafs Education, Events, newpost

AFS Webinar: Mythbusting Marine Aquaculture

Mythbusting Marine Aquaculture

Thursday, February 27, 2020
1:00 pm Eastern Time

Presenters:
Jennifer Molloy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Siting and Water Quality
Mike Rust, Ph.D., NOAA Fisheries
Guillaume Salze, Ph.D., Ajinomoto Animal Nutrition North America, Inc.
Jesse Trushenski, Ph.D., Riverence
Craig Watson, University of Florida

Register Now!

Description:
Marine finfish aquaculture in the United States represents an opportunity to provide domestic seafood, create jobs, contribute to coastal economies, and help improve community health. Significant advances in fish farming technology and best management practices have decreased the environmental footprint and increased the economic performance and sustainability of marine aquaculture.

Hear from experts about how proper siting and husbandry, best management practices, and the use of appropriate technologies and tools are minimizing or eliminating diseases, therapeutants, excess nutrients in benthic habitats, and the release of nonnative species.

georgiaafs GA-AFS Annual Meeting, newpost

2020 Chapter Elections

We had 3 members step up and run for President-Elect. In the end it was Robert Bringolf who was elected as our Chapter’s President-Elect. Jamie Roberts takes over from Jim Page as our new Chapter President. Jim will begin his role as Past-President. During our annual Award’s Banquet we had the Changing of the Guard. This was the first year we had a new officer position up for election. Dawn Franco was the only person who volunteered to run for Chapter Recording Secretary-Treasurer. Dawn was approved for the role as Recording Secretary-Treasurer by the Chapter members at the Chapter Business Meeting. Dawn will work with our Chapter Executive Secretary-Treasurer, Rebecca Brown, during the annual meeting and throughout the year. Congratulations everyone for your new roles as Georgia Chapter AFS Officers.

georgiaafs Events, newpost

AFS Celebrates 150 Years

What sustains a society for 150 years? Maybe it’s a compelling mission to conserve North America’s fisheries and aquatic resources. Perhaps it’s the strong community of like-minded professionals who enjoy sharing their life’s work with each other. Or maybe it’s a tradition of scientific excellence spanning the generations. The American Fisheries Society is proud to celebrate its 150th anniversary in 2020 and you’re invited to participate!

https://150years.fisheries.org/

 

georgiaafs Education, Events, newpost

AFS Webinar on January 28

AFS Book Preview: Multispecies and Watershed Approaches to Freshwater Fish Conservation Tuesday, January 28, 2020 1:00 pm Eastern Time Presenters: Daniel Dauwalter Trout Unlimited Timothy Birdsong Texas Parks and Recreation Department Gary Garrett University of Texas at Austin Registration Link: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8364194263774714893

Description:
Freshwater systems in the United States have been altered dramatically, resulting in degradation of fish habitats and declines in native freshwater fishes. Innovative conservation approaches are needed to restore watershed processes for freshwater fish conservation while simultaneously supporting human needs. This need has driven development of innovative multispecies and watershed-based concepts, assessments, prioritizations, planning, and delivery that focus conservation efforts on entire aquatic communities at watershed scales while incorporating species life history needs and acknowledging compatible human uses. These approaches have yielded multi-agency partnerships and large-scale funding programs focused on operationalizing conservation plans and supporting meaningful and transformative conservation delivery for freshwater fishes and their habitats. This book, which was borne out of a symposium titled “Multispecies and Watershed Approaches to Native Fish Conservation:  Science, Planning, and Implementation” held at the 2017 American Fisheries Society Annual Meeting in Tampa, Florida, highlights these innovative approaches to freshwater fish conservation, profiling case studies from freshwater systems throughout the United States that include diverse partnerships encompassing state, federal and local agencies, watershed councils, non-governmental organizations, and Fish Habitat Partnerships. The book also profiles highly effective and successful conservation programs and initiatives that have spanned entire careers and represent decades of unwavering commitment and passion by agencies, organizations, and individuals to restore and preserve freshwater systems. Some of these individuals have left a lasting conservation legacy through their incredibly productive and impactful careers and have offered figurative road maps to guide and inform the efforts of current and future conservation professionals. The case studies highlighted in this book simply show it is possible to successfully effect change at watersheds scales for multiple species and set a high bar for the next generation of aquatic conservationists and fisheries managers focused on the conservation of freshwater fishes.  https://fisheries.org/2020/01/webinar-on-january-28/

georgiaafs newpost, President's Corner, Uncategorized

October 2019 Message from Georgia AFS President Jim Page

It’s hard to believe how the year has flown, but Fall is officially here!  With the arrival of cooler temps and changing leaves also comes the realization that we aren’t too far away from our annual meeting!  As a reminder, mark your calendars to join us in Augusta at the Doubletree on January 28-30.  Our theme for this year’s meeting is “Managing Our Aquatic Resources for People, the Economy, and Nature”, and we are scheduled to have a symposia on “Georgia’s Public Fishing Areas”.  This symposium will be an excellent opportunity to learn about some of the many public fishing areas Georgia has to offer, and provide attendees with the chance to meet many of the folks who manage these wonderful resources.  Several of these folks are county, state, and federal employees, and thus students and those considering pursuing fisheries work should hopefully find this opportunity as a good chance to learn about and learn from those in their future career field.   In addition to learning about public fishing areas, we are excited about the professional and student talks as well.  In that realm, I encourage each of you to strongly consider giving a presentation and informing us on some of the work you are engaged in.  Remember, if you are interested in being a presenter, you’ll want to sign up before December 1 with Carolyn Belcher (Carolyn.Belcher@dnr.ga.gov) to ensure you have a spot. 

As we draw closer to the meeting and wrap up the calendar year, I want to extend my utmost appreciation to everyone who has helped further the GA AFS mission over the last several months.  Whether it be those who helped facilitate the successful fish disease/biosecurity workshop we had in July; the team that represented GA AFS at our CoastFest booth this year where over 10,000 people visited; the work of the many committees in the Chapter trying to help grow our members and strengthen our Chapter;  the efforts of those who helped update our bylaws for the first time since 2000 (which I’m happy to report were approved); or the work of those diligently preparing and tackling all of the tasks necessary to conduct the annual meeting we have forthcoming in January, each of you are equally important, needed, and appreciated for what you contribute! 

In closing, as we wind down this year and stare at 2020, I strongly encourage each of you, particularly for those not currently serving, to become actively involved in our Chapter.  Many of our committees can certainly use your help, and our success as a Chapter cannot be fully achieved without people stepping up and helping out. 

I hope to see you in Augusta on January 28-30 for some good times, great fellowship, and a wonderful time of learning about much of the hard work you do and wonderful opportunities awaiting all of us in the public waters of our beautiful state!

 

Jim Page

(Jim.Page@dnr.ga.gov)

Chapter President

georgiaafs newpost, Uncategorized

Congratulations 2019 AFS Fellow Cecil Jennings

Cecil_Jennings-1

Congratulations to Cecil Jennings for becoming an AFS Fellow.  AFS designates as Fellows of the Society certain members who have made outstanding or meritorious contributions to the diversity of fields that are included in the American Fisheries Society. Contributions can include, but are not restricted to, efforts in leadership, research, teaching and mentoring, resource management and/or conservation, and outreach/interaction with the public.

georgiaafs Events, GA-AFS Annual Meeting, newpost

2020 GA-AFS Chapter Annual Meeting

2020 GA-AFS Chapter Annual Meeting

January 28 – 30, 2020 at the Doubletree by Hilton in Augusta

The 2020 meeting will be at the fabulous Doubletree by Hilton in Augusta.  Expect presentations on a wide range of topics which focus on the conservation and sustainability of fishery resources and aquatic ecosystems.

Click Here for more information about the 2020 Annual Meeting: 2020 Annual Meeting