The following Professional Development workshops will be offered during the 2025 Annual Meeting:
Alaska Native Lamprey Workshop
Course Date: Sunday March 16, 2025, 9 am – 5:00 pm, (1 hour lunch break)
Course Location: In-person or virtual; Ted Ferry Civic Center; 888 Venetia Avenue, Ketchikan, AK 99901
Instructors: Monica Blanchard, USFWS and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Pacific Lamprey Conservation Initiative; Christina Wang, USFWS, Pacific Lamprey Conservation Initiative; Nate Cathcart, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Pacific Lamprey Conservation Initiative
Cost: FREE! Public welcome to join!
Capacity: Minimum attendance is 10 participants; maximum 30 participants
Description:
The Pacific Lamprey Conservation Initiative invites ecologists, resource managers, agency personnel, or anyone interested in lamprey to attend our interactive workshops focusing on the native lamprey species of
Alaska, including Arctic Lamprey, Pacific Lamprey, Western Brook Lamprey, Western River Lamprey and Alaska Brook Lamprey. Participants will learn from national and local lamprey researchers about the ecology, habitat needs, cultural significance, conservation, and known species distribution, as well as the continuing data needs and gaps in our understanding of native lamprey in Alaska. Additionally, participants will learn about how to incorporate lamprey conservation into their restoration projects, including permitting, passage design, in-water work activities, and other restoration activities.
If you have any questions about whether this course would be beneficial or a good fit for you, please email Holly Steindorf, Pacific Lamprey Conservation Initiative; hsteindorf@nrccorp.com or the Professional Development Committee Chairs.
Introduction to Plotting Data in ggplot
Course Date: Monday March 17, 2025, 8:00 am – 12:00 pm; optional working session in the afternoon
Course Location: In-person only; Ted Ferry Civic Center; 888 Venetia Avenue, Ketchikan, AK 99901
Instructors: Megan McPhee, Professor, University of Alaska Fairbanks College of Fisheries and Oceanography;
Cost: FREE!
Capacity: Minimum attendance is 5 participants; maximum 25 participants
Description: This course will introduce you to ggplot2, a software library in the R statistical computing language aimed at giving you complete control and flexibility to make reproducible figures ideally suited to your data. If you have been wanting to move over to R to make figures but haven’t been able to get over the initial learning hump, or if you would like to improve your data graphing skills in R, this workshop is for you!
Topics include:
- The “grammar of graphics” logic of ggplot
- How to plot various kinds of data in ggplot
- How to fine-tune the appearance of your plot
- How to make your figures publication-ready in ggplot
We will work with real or simulated datasets, and you will have the option to make plots with your own data if time allows.
Requirements: laptop with R and RStudio installed (ideally the most recent versions). Experience with R or another command-line program helps but is not required
Ecotoxicology 101 for Fish Biologists
Course Date: Monday March 17, 2025, 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Course Location: In-person or virtual; Ted Ferry Civic Center; 888 Venetia Avenue, Ketchikan, AK 99901
Instructors: Hosted in person by Dr. Morgan Bender, Principal Aquatic Toxicologist at Fjord & Fish Sciences based in Anchorage, Alaska, (mbender@fjordfishalaska.com) and joined remotely by Dr. Andrew Cyr, State of Alaska Environmental Toxicologist at the Department of Public Health (andrew.cyr@alaska.gov)
Cost: FREE! Public welcome to join!
Capacity: Minimum attendance is 10 participants; maximum 30 participants
Description: A high-speed, trans-disciplinary workshop that will equip you with practical knowledge to better inform environmental, fish, and human health sciences. The timeline will be 4 x 45- 50 minute lectures with discussion time, held in hybrid, with short breaks between.
Join us for an opportunity to learn about Alaskan aquatic ecotoxicology from two experts in the field via a condensed, hybrid workshop format. Previous experience or coursework is optional. Are you a fisheries professional looking for a refresher on fish contaminant issues? Or an undergraduate or graduate student interested in this applied field of fish biology for a career or future academic work?
Lecture Topics include:
-
- What is Ecotoxicology? (Dr. Bender): An overview of aquatic ecotoxicology, including its origins, an explanation of its multidisciplinary nature, key concepts across those disciplines, and methodology. Using fish-specific examples, we will discuss aspects of environmental and analytical chemistry, chemical fate and transport, aquatic exposures, dose-response relationships, bioavailability, bioaccumulation, and biomagnification.
- Alaskan Aquatic Ecotoxicology (Dr. Bender): This lecture will present the past and present focus areas for aquatic ecotoxicology in Alaska. Dr. Bender will share specific resources for ecotoxicological interpretation (e.g., relevant links, recent papers, and available data). Case studies will focus on the state of the science for adverse effects on fish from oil spills, microplastics, and 6PPDQ (e.g., a tire wear particle found in stormwater).
- Developing Fish Consumption Guidance
(Dr. Andrew Cyr): Moving into human toxicology and risk assessment, Dr. Cyr will discuss the information used to develop human consumption guidance for fish in Alaska. Dr. Cyr will guide participants through what and how data are collected for these assessments, how findings are disseminated, and what other considerations are made. He will present a case study on mercury.
- Be an Ecotoxicologist! : A discussion focused on investigating, interpreting, contextualizing, and disseminating “levels of X, Y, Z in environment/ fish/ food.” Prompts will be provided, and the group will be divided into smaller groups if necessary. Dr. Bender will guide the discussion, fostering community and shared learning. Discussion of environmental justice and ethics will be encouraged. Please bring a computer with internet access.
Intended Learning Outcomes:
After completing this workshop, participants will be able to:
-
Apply key concepts of aquatic ecotoxicology
-
Explain the general status of current aquatic ecotoxicological issues in Alaska and identify data gaps
-
Understand the basic building blocks used to generate fish consumption guidance.
Invasive European Green Crab Early Detection Workshop
Course Date: Wednesday March 19, 2025, Session 1: 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm; Session 2: 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Course Location: Session 1 (AFS attendees only): Ted Ferry Civic Center; 888 Venetia Avenue, Ketchikan, AK 99901; Session 2 (AFS attendees and the public): Discovery Center, the learning center, entrance by the lumberjack show;; 50 Main St, Ketchikan, AK 99901
Instructors: Tammy Davis, Invasive Species Program Coordinator, ADF&G (tammy.davis@alaska.gov) and Jasmine Maurer, Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (jrmaurer@alaska.edu)
Cost: FREE! Public welcome to join Session 2 at the Discovery Center!
Capacity: Session 1: Minimum attendance is 3, maximum 20 participants; Please register for Session 1 with link below; Session 2: No limit, no need to register.
Description: Join Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve and Alaska Department of Fish and Game to learn about the invasive European green crab, gain skills and techniques to survey beaches for carapaces and molts, as well as employ trapping protocols for early detection. If you want to join the early detection monitoring network, we’ll provide the information and gear for you to survey for European green crab on your local beaches.
If you have questions about workshops at the 2025 meeting, are wondering which course may be a good fit for you, or if you are in need of financial support, please contact the instructors or the Professional Development Committee Chairs Sara Miller (sara.miller@alaska.gov) or Maggie Chan (maggie.chan@noaa.gov).
