28th ANNUAL MEETING
2014
Christopher Newport University
Newport News, Virginia
March 21-23, 2014
$109/night
Reserve using above link or call 866-329-1758.
To receive the discount rate, ask for “CNU Professional Development” group block.
*Deadline for reserved rate: February 21st
STUDENT PAPER AWARDS
Are you a student submitting an abstract for a poster or platform presentation? If so, read the scoring criteria for student paper awards.
THANK YOU FOR ATTENDING THE 2014 MEETING!
CLICK HERE to view photos.
Meeting Highlights
by Jessica Thompson
The Tidewater Chapter of the American Fisheries Society held its 28th Annual Meeting in Newport News, Virginia, on March 21-23, 2014. We had 70 meeting attendees, evenly split between students and professionals, representing 26 academic, government, non-profit, and private organizations from five states: North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey.
The meeting kicked off on Friday afternoon on the campus of Christopher Newport University with Laura Lee’s ever-popular continuing education class on comparing and selecting growth models. The meeting moved into the beautiful ballroom in CNU’s student center for the poster social that evening. Although we only had seven posters this year, the quality of the posters was high, and the small number gave everyone the opportunity to speak with the presenters while enjoying good company. Some of us also had the opportunity to relive our undergrad days by being chastised by university staff for switching the projection system over to the score of the UNC basketball game.
Oral presentations were held all day Saturday, as well as Sunday morning, on CNU’s campus. The talks were truly excellent and covered topics ranging from traditional fisheries mainstays such as spawning, diet, movement, and habitat selection to quantitative management tools such as tag returns and trophic dynamic models. The diversity was just as broad in the fishes discussed, which included flounder, tuna, river herring, sturgeon, menhaden, brook trout, and more.
Saturday also featured the student-mentor lunch, attended by eleven mentors and thirteen students with catering provided by the Chapter, as well as the afternoon awards ceremony and business meeting. The awards ceremony included a special presentation in which several past presidents of the Chapter received a gavel plaque, a Chapter tradition that had been suspended when the Chapter fell on hard financial times that have now passed thanks to the excellent work of our treasurer, Stephanie McInerny. Thanks to Ron Klauda, our awards committee chair, for organizing the awards ceremony and ensuring that all of our past presidents receive the recognition they deserve for their service.
The banquet social was held Saturday evening at the Mariners’ Museum in Newport News. Attendees enjoyed good company, delicious BBQ, and abundant beer while having the opportunity to tour the museum collection, which includes an amazing diversity of maritime artifacts. The banquet social also featured the presentation of awards for the best student poster and oral presentation, as well as awarding of the raffle prizes.
Thanks to all those who attended the 2014 Annual Meeting, as well as our meeting sponsors: Virginia Sea Grant, Christopher Newport University, Harris Teeter, The Mariners’ Museum, Wicked Oceans, Mrow Studios, and Irihana Arts. I look forward to another great Tidewater meeting next year in North Carolina!
AWARD WINNERS
Bob Murphy
Meritorious Service Award
Bill Goldsborough
Conservation Award
Jack Musik
Excellence in Fisheries Education Award
Mike Wilberg
Outgoing Chapter President’s Certificate
Jessica Thompson
Incoming President’s Coveted Oyster Toadfish
David Kazyak, First Place
Chad Smith, Second Place
Eileen Setzler-Hamilton Memorial Scholarship Award
STUDENT PRESENTATION AWARDS
A total of 23 presentations were evaluated and scored by the judges: 6 posters and 17 oral papers.
Student Oral Presentation Awards:
First Place: Lauren Nys, Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences
“Effects of nursery habitat conditions on young-of-the-year summer flounder”
Second Place: James Kilfoil, Delaware State University
“Hooked on shark fishing: The impacts of U.S. recreational fisheries on recovering shark populations”
Third Place: Matt Siskey, University of Maryland, Chesapeake Biological Laboratory
“Age structure of Atlantic bluefin tuna from the North Carolina winter fishery”
Student Poster Presentation Awards:
First Place: Jason Peters, North Carolina State University
“Potential ‘spill-in’ of oyster larvae to marine reserves”
Second Place: Cameron Luck, North Carolina State University
“Encysted trematodes in the stomach linings of weakfish: Frequency of occurrence and effects on conditions”
Third Place: Christi Linardich, Old Dominion University
“Preliminary results from an extinction risk assessment of bony fishes of the Gulf of Mexico”