Homer Meeting Wrap

A huge thank you to our meeting sponsors- UAF, ASMI, Kintama Research, St. Hubert Research Group, Cook InletKeeper, LGL Alaska, Matt Nemeth and Mari Reeves, Icicle Seafoods, R2 Research, and Cook Inlet Aquaculture. And of course, to our host, the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge.

The meeting was a great success, due to the efforts of the Program Committee, amazing Local Arrangements Committee, and the over 250 attendees who presented posters and talks in 18 different sessions. Over $4,600 was raised for Student Travel at the outcry and silent auction, and the Chapter supported 32 students fully or in part to participate in the meeting.

Our three plenary speakers, Jim Lichatowich, Stephanie Schmidt, and Jim Magdanz represented all facets of fisheries conservation and management, bringing long-term, broad view perspectives and presenting specific examples from fisheries management, subsistence, and habitat. The first Women in Fisheries Session was a huge success, with nearly 100 attendees working with our six Mentors: Diana Stram, Hilda Sexauer, Erin Harrington, Courtney Carothers, Stephanie Schmidt, and Sara Gilk-Baumer. Look for opportunities to continue this session with a work group in the fall of 2016, and stay connected with people you may have met during the session.

The Awards Banquet recognized Henry Masters as the Cultural Diversity Travel Award recipient, and Maggie Schaffer as the Molly Ahlgren Scholarship recipient. Gordon Kruse was recognized with the Chapter’s highest honor, the Wally Noerenberg Award, for his great and outstanding contributions to Alaska fisheries.

Result from the 5K run can be found here:  http://www.webscorer.com/race?raceid=56566  A big thank you to the Kachemak Bay Running club for the bibs and timing equipment!

And of course, you can still offset your carbon footprint from traveling to the meeting here: https:/www.youcaring.com/carbon-offset-2015-AK-AFS

During the business meeting, a vote was held to move our annual Chapter meetings to the spring time. This will bring the AK Chapter more in line with other Western Division AFS Chapters, allow presenters more time to analyze new results from recent field seasons, and move the meeting further from the federal fiscal year deadline, which should allow more of our federal members to attend. Meeting location and exact time will be announced via the list-serve and facebook page sometime this winter. There may be Continuing Education opportunities separate from the annual meeting in the fall of 2016, so stay tuned even through the summer. Karson Coutre was elected as Chapter Secretary, Jeff Falke as Vice-President, and Aaron Martin moves into the President-Elect seat.

We are working on archiving talks presented at the meeting, and once those are securely online, meeting attendees will have access to pdfs of the talks, in order to further facilitate discussion among presenters and their audience, and because with so many great concurrent speakers, it was impossible to see all the presentations you may have wished!

Of course, if you missed them at the meeting, you can still get a 2015 Lumpsucker t-shirt, pint glass, or the great stainless steel mugs online. Great gift ideas, and all proceeds go to support our students!

Thanks to all who made the Homer meeting such a success. It was a great time in a fun town, and we look forward to seeing you all in 2017, if not before.