The 56^th AFS Cal-Neva chapter annual meeting took place in Folsom, CA, in person and after two years of virtual meetings and it was a welcome change! The theme for this year’s annual meeting was “Centering Diversity and Resilience in Fisheries Science”. The pandemic showed  us the value of both diversity and resilience in every aspect of our lives, to help us make it through with our health and sanity intact. So, it seemed a fitting theme to highlight in fisheries science as well, while building on last year’s theme. We approached the theme in the Plenary by listening to Dr. Katherine Seto speaking on conservation and sustainability of local fisheries, to Dr. Andrew Rypel speaking in defense of lesser valued native and diverse “rough fish” and to Keith Parker speaking about the intersection of traditional ecological knowledge and western science in Tribal resource conservation in the Klamath River. Technical sessions consisted of a range of species and research methods in a geographic area spanning from the Eastern Sierra desert to San Francisco Bay. We offered a way to learn more about how to support diversity and inclusion of all scientists within fisheries science through an “LGBTQ+ Inclusivity in Fisheries” session, led by a member of one of our student chapters.

For the 18^th straight year, the Student Oral Presentation and Poster judging competition was co-organized and presided over by the Northern California District of the American Institute of Fishery Research Biologists and awards presented at the banquet on the last evening. This year we committed to a focus on student research, having the student talks as non-concurrent sessions with the goal of introducing all attendees to a wide range of research from throughout the state.

Many thanks go to….

All our attendees who came out to the in-person meeting and showed great consideration in keeping their fellow attendees healthy. It was great to see everyone in person again, we sincerely thank and appreciate you!

A big thank you also goes to our generous sponsors, we can’t do this without your support: Cramer Fish Sciences, East Bay MUD, GENIDAQS, Oregon RFID, ESA, HELIX Environmental Planning, Sacramento County Regional San and Sonoma County Water Agency.

Award Recipients

By Eva Bush, AFS Cal-Neva President-Elect