The 41^st Annual Meeting of the Western Division of the American Fisheries Society was held in collaboration with The 50th Annual Meeting of the California-Nevada Chapter: 21 – 24 March 2016 in Reno Nevada 

The conference was a big success with over 500 attendees from 22 U.S. states, Canada and as far away as Yugoslavia; 208 session papers and 45 contributed posters; Four continuing education courses were offered including Section 7 Endangered Species Act Consultation, Fish Passage and Screening, Passive Integrates Transponder (PIT) Tagging Workshop, and R for Biologists; Field trips included the M.S. Dixie II Scenic Tahoe Cruise, the Lake Tahoe Science Tour, Lake Trout Fishing, Lahontan Cutthroat Country: Pyramid Lake & Lower Truckee River, Trout Unlimited Little Truckee River Restoration Tour & Fishing with over 1/5^th of our attendees participating in this activities.

We also had a great attendance by student chapters including 63 students from over five states.  Many were supported by generous donations from chapters.  Over 80 students and mentors took part in the student mentor lunch.

Student Awards:

Oral Presentations (15 judges)

1^st Place – Adam Herdrich, Colorado State University

Effects of Large Wood and Log Jams on Eastern Slope Rocky Mountain Trout Populations

2^nd Place – Jane Sullivan, University of Alaska

Can fishing explain declines in size-at-age of Pacific halibut?

3^rd Place – Abigail Hughes, St. Mary’s College

Food Web Ecology in the California Newt, Taricha torosa

 Posters (15 judges)

1^st Place – Rennie Winkelman, University of Montana

Decadal Impacts of Wildfire on Stream Food Webs

2^nd Place – Travis Apgar, UC Santa Cruz

Evolutionary restoration of anadromous migration in steelhead trout

3^rd Place – Alexander Tasoff, CSU, Long Beach

Differences in Mortality Among Families of California Grunion (Leuresthes tenuis) Exposed to Forcasted Ocean Acidification Conditions

Katrina Martin Memorial Award – Sylvester Cacy, Humboldt State University

Aquaponics in the classroom: A students’ perspective 

Many Thanks….

Over 35 professional members, officers and students made the meeting a great success.  A total of 41 vendors and sponsors, including, CDWR, ESA, Smith-Root, Alpha Mach, Inc., Aqua Tactics, Advanced Telemetry Systems, Biomark, Cardno, cbc eco-engineering, Fish Transport Systems, LLC, HDR, Inc., Hydromet, Idaho Chapter AFS, Lotek Wireless, Oregon RFID, Real Time Research, Sonoma County Water Agency, Smith-Root Inc., State of Montana, Taylor & Francis, Upper Snake River Tribes Foundation, USFWS, the Yakima Nation, Vemco, and Whooshh Innovations. RTR, Lotek, ATS, Aqui-S, Aquatactics, OTT, USFWS R6, Alpha Mach Inc, AFS, Cardno, Vemco, Arizona/New Mexico Chapter of AFS, Oregon Chapter of AFS, USFWS R1, Idaho Chapter AFS, State of Montana.

We’d also like to thank our generous donors for raffle prizes, which raised nearly $4,000 for student and professional travel.

Other highlights included social events at the Discovery Center Science Museum and National Automobile Museum.

You can download great photos from here:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/u1rv7cw8nm0llz2/AACW3IjhOTaXu4HhBgFOXy-Aa?dl=0