“CASTING A WIDE NET: DIVERSE PERSPECTIVES IN FISHERIES”

Meeting Re-Cap:

This year’s Cal-Neva Annual Meeting was held from March 1 – 4, 2021, and was our first foray into organizing virtual meeting events. Despite the difficulties of our pandemic-impacted schedules, the chapter response was enthusiastic with 40 presentations ranging from southern California to Alaska, multiple continuing education courses, innovative social events, thought-provoking plenary speakers, and over 115 active participants. Because of the many challenges we’ve all faced this year, our chapter also contributed to a variety of local environmental equality and outreach non-profit organizations. Rather than conference swag, a portion of registration dollars went back into local programs. We know many have found outdoor spaces a place of refuge and these programs provide access to outdoor spaces and activities for communities who would otherwise find access challenging or unapproachable. We hope supporting non-profits like these creates pathways for future generations of scientists who are diverse, knowledgeable, and passionate. Thanks to a successful conference and all of your votes, $2,500 will be donated in the following percentages:

Cast Hope – ~39% of votes for $990

Captain Rollo’s Kids at Sea – ~37% of votes for $920

LandPaths – ~24% of votes for $590

Thank you to all of those who contributed, including attendees, presenters, session moderators, sponsors (Biomark, East Bay Municipal Utility District, Environmental Science Associates, and Regional San), and members of the Cal-Neva Conference Planning committee.

Student Award Winners:

Every year Cal-Neva AFS partners with the American Institute of Fishery Research Biologists to recognize student presentations at our annual meeting. In addition to recognition of talk and poster presentations based on technical merit, Cramer Fish Sciences provides separate recognition for creative and innovative student presentations in the form of the Katrina Martens Poster award. A special thanks to all judges, and to Tom Keegan and Joe Merz for coordinating student awards at the Annual Meeting.

We would like to recognize this years’ student award winners for best talk and best poster. In addition to monetary compensation for all award-winners, the Best Talk winner will represent the Cal-Neva AFS chapter at the upcoming Western Division AFS Annual Meeting in a special session highlighting individual chapters.

Best Talk

Winner – Terra Dressler (UC Santa Barbara) – “Living on the Edge: Thermal Tolerance of Wild Steelhead Trout at Their Southern Range Limit”

Runner-up – Amanda Coen (UC Davis) – “Got to catch them all? Balancing maximizing genetic diversity and sample size in a recruitment-limited population of White Sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus)”

Second runner-up – Emily Chen (UC Berkeley) – “Hatchery versus wild maturation schedules and implications for the ocean salmon fishery”

Best Poster

Winner – Ashley Del Core (Cal Poly) – “Warming waters and smaller fish: Assessing how temperature impacts body size and shape in a population of Amargosa pupfish”

Runner-up – Amanda Agosta (UC Davis) – “Investigation of a known mortality hotspot for out-migrating juvenile salmon in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta”

Second runner-up (tie) – Rachael Ryan (UC Berkeley) – “Quantifying diversity of size and timing of outmigration in an endangered coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) complex”

Second runner-up (tie) – Laura Slater (U. of Alaska Fairbanks) – “Molecular evaluation of the mating dynamics of snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) in the eastern Bering Sea”

Katrina Martens Poster Award

Winner – Ashley Del Core (Cal Poly) – “Warming waters and smaller fish: Assessing how temperature impacts body size and shape in a population of Amargosa pupfish”

Runner-up – Sam Rosenbaum (UC Berkeley) – “How Landscape and Local Factors Influence Juvenile Size in Endangered Coho Salmon and Threatened Steelhead Trout “

By Matthew Young, AFS Cal-Neva Chapter President-Elect 2020-2021