8 February 2019

Attendees: Rebecca Krogman, Julie Defilippi Simpson, Paul Venturelli, Sarah Grasty

1. 1. Officer and Committee Reports
      1. President – Rebecca
         1. Nothing to report
      2. President-Elect – Paul
         1. Nothing to report
      3. ESAB – Rebecca
         1. Amberle on leave for a bit, Melissa has a summary report already being used regarding membership services
         2. Governing Board Reporting Tool is being revised, we are providing feedback now and have a meeting for next steps next week
      4. Communications – Julie
         1. PCG Brand Revitalization Report  was provided to them
         2. Generally, people are happy with being the AFS, but there is a push for “North American” because Canada and Mexico feel excluded
         3. A new logo and tagline would be good, but should be true to our past
         4. Change should be real, not superficial
         5. The priorities of members differ from affiliates and from agency leaders who decide on whether to support membership – AFS’s marketing should DIFFER for each audience

 

• Action Item: Julie will share report with the ExCom

 

1. 2. Meeting Times and Dates for Calls
      1. Switch to monthly, same time  and day of week

 

• Action Item: Rebecca will revise the calendar invitation

 

1. 2. Nominations for next election – Paul
      1. Incorporating past leaders’ goals into direction of Section and making that part of  the nominations email would help potential leaders identify whether they want to be a part of the FITS ExCom
      2. Need past emails from two years ago for nominations

 

• Action Item: Julie will share past emails with Paul for guidance

• Action Item: Kayla will help get the email posted when Paul is ready

 

1. 2. Technology Series– Sarah
      1. First article accepted  in Fisheries Magazine, probably in March
      2. A little behind original schedule, but making smoother progress now that the plan is refined and the authors/topics are figured out
      3. Second article will be about reaching more remote locations in marine environments – targeting April 3 for draft, ready for May or June Fisheries
      4. Third article may be right before Annual Meeting
      5. Fourth will be after, covering symposium themes
   3. Symposia for Reno 2019 (Due March 1)
      1. Technology Symposium based on Tech Series – Sarah leading
         1. Abstract submitted (see below)

 

• Action Item: Sarah will contact Shawn Johnston (AFS) to see if he can hook us up with the submitters of a similar symposium and allow us to see the abstracts and determine whether the symposia are indeed overlapping

• Action Item: ExCom will identify a few specific “topic areas” to send to contributing authors, to help guide the symposium as a whole

 

1. 1. 2. FITS requested to partner on symposium on spatial ecology and telemetry
         1. This may be a joint wildlife/fisheries symposium and promises to be very interesting, multiple Sections have already dedicated (Fish Management, Fish Culture, AIFRB)
         2. Help will be needed to write the symposium proposal by March 1

 

• Action Item: Rebecca will let them know that YES, FITS will participate

 

1. 2. Symposia for Columbus 2020?
      1. Dealing with Large Datasets
      2. Possible helpers: Danny Weaver
      3. Sarah’s role may be to help guide him along

 

• Action Item: Rebecca will contact Danny to see if he’s interested in helping

 

1. 2. Workshops for Reno  (Due March 1)
      1. Data Management
      2. Use it as a kickoff to the symposium in Columbus

 

• Action Item: Rebecca will also tell Danny about this

 

1. 2. Workshops for Columbus
      1. Maybe a Telemetry workshop in Columbus
         1. GLADOS
         2. Ohio DNR
      2. BIG Data Management  – Paul and Julie
      3. How do we apply the format of Monsters of Fish Habitat?
   3. Affiliated Meeting Request (Due June 30)
      1. Overdue  for call to Steve re: vendor show
      2. What should our meeting look like?
         1. Early reporting and provision of reports in our news posts is better, point to them in Old Business ad move one
         2. Timing of meeting should be adjacent to something the section sponsors (e.g., symposium or workshop)
         3. Challenge of having it adjacent to the vendor show is logistics, which change every year and could be poor for a meeting environment
      3. Other Methods of Increasing Section Visibility
         1. Sarah: Tampa had a booth, was fine but maybe not worth all the effort especially manning it
         2. Perhaps we can have a table during poster session?
         3. Create posters or visuals where we say “Electrofishing Solutions”  and highlight what each vendor has done, can do, where they are, use it as a kickoff to the website
         4. Website of solutions representing various vendors
            1. Sarah: Need a tool, perhaps a shopping plugin, to manage the information effectively
            2. Provision of reviews,  feedback is probably important, but we may have pushback on that, needs moderation and maybe can we work with vendors to help them improve/reply to comments
   4. Travel Award Planning for 2019
      1. Julie will lead
      2. OFWIM occurs immediately after the AFS meeting this year
      3. Agenda next time: review rubric and criteria

 

• Action Item: Rebecca will send Julie any materials from 2018

• Action Item: Julie will send a tentative timeline for 2019

 

2. FDX – NASM possibilities
   1. FDX = Fisheries Data Exchange Standards
   2. NASM = North American Standard Methods, as defined by Bonar et al. (2009)
   3. It was brought up multiple times during a “standardization” symposium at Midwest that we cannot make good strides in standard sampling without clear expectations of standard data recording, processing, and management
   4. Issue has arisen multiple times over decades, typically with Federal leadership. The leadership was recently given to FITS, and we have the challenge of making progress with little budget and time. But we can do it!
   5. The big idea is very big, affecting data management in every aspect of fisheries science, spanning different ecosystems, different geographic locations, different agencies, different survey types.
   6. Key is to work in smaller, tangible chunks. The first chunk can be basic data/metadata expectations to go along with the NASM. Bonar is aware of the need and our interest in possibly contributing a chapter to the next NASM revision.
   7. Push for being a chapter in the next book
   8. Freshwater first, but marine in the future and there is definitely a need although marine commercial does have some good mandated standards
   9. Working group needs 5-10 people from across the country to represent different viewpoints
      1. Focus on applied freshwater research (both academic and agency) and management because they are using the NASM
      2. Julie – Facilitator
      3. Rebecca Krogman (Iowa)
      4. Jeremy Pritt (Ohio)
      5. Keith Hurley – may have some good suggestions on people
      6. Patrick Cooney – may have some suggestions for folks out West
      7. Thom Litts or someone in his office
      8. Texas – Follow up at R3 meeting
      9. Action Item: Rebecca will find a Texas/Southern representative for working group

 

 

Use of Advanced Technology in Fisheries & Wildlife Research Applications

Supported By: Fisheries Information and Technology Section (FITS)

Symposium Description:

As computing, network, software, and scientific technologies continue to advance and develop rapidly, so too do their applications to fisheries and wildlife research. As a result of this fast-paced growth, keeping atop of new technological developments which could benefit fisheries and wildlife research can be time-consuming and overwhelming. Use of new technologies can also be daunting when specialized engineering knowledge is required to implement or modify these new tools or approaches. With no assurance that there will be a positive cost-benefit to a project to use new technology(ies), this can further discourage researchers from undertaking projects which incorporate them. However, recent research is showing that these tools can provide scientists the opportunity to improve data quality, reduce survey bias, reduce cost, and sample increasingly remote areas around the globe. The focus of this symposium, hosted by the AFS Fisheries Information & Technology Section (FITS), is to highlight current research projects which are integrating advanced technologies and how they are thereby achieving one or more of the aforementioned goals within the terrestrial, marine, and/or freshwater environment(s).

 

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