AFS Fisheries Information and Technology Section

Executive Committee Meeting Minutes

March 10, 2021

Attendees: Rebecca, Chelsea, Tiffany, Kayla, Paul

• Communication and Outreach Coordinator (COC) update (Chelsea)
  • Chelsea has Obtained social media credentials from Sarah Grasty (Twitter and Facebook)
  • Chelsea has developed an idea to post to social media regularly with “Vendor alert” posts to highlight and connect FIT members with vendors
  • We have gained a few new volunteers to help with social media and marketing the CFTC on social media accounts.
  • Paul brought up tweeting about relevant papers. Chelsea mentioned highlighting membership projects as well.
• President-elect election (Tiffany)
  • Question brought to group: When will FITS’s annual business meeting take place? Paul suggests we wait until the parent conference in November to have the meeting in person (if possible).
  • Bylaws state that officer transitions happen at the business meeting. If we wait until the conference to have the business meeting, then we will make the transition at the meeting.
  • For now, we plan on the business meeting to the happen at the conference.
  • Open period for nominations for about 2 months. Action Item: Tiffany will get an announcement put together for a call for nominations for VP of FITS and develop a more formal deadline.
• Center for Fisheries Technology and Collaboration (CFTC) update (Rebecca)
  • One of our volunteers, Alex, is organizing a meeting for CFTC leadership and volunteers to develop goals, subcommittees, and collaborate on ways to promote CFTC.
  • Rebecca reported that we have added a few more vendors over the last month. Volunteers have already assisted with product listings and refining existing listings, as well as brainstorming ways to connect with users and new partners.
  • The Continuing Education Committee is thinking about creating a database of Continuing Education courses beyond what is available during the parent meeting. Paul wanted to know if this could live in CFTC. Rebecca thinks it could derail the focus of CFTC, although it is a great idea for a useful member service. This is similar to an idea that Alex brought up adding textbooks and online resources to CFTC, but these don’t necessary fit the goals of CFTC. A separate solution may be more appropriate, but could copy our approach of using a “store plugin” to make courses and resources easily searchable.
• History webpage collaboration with the History Section (Paul)
  • Action item: Paul needs to reach out to the History Section to request historical “vignettes” that describe the evolution of specific tech.
• AFS Baltimore
  • “COVID Effects” Symposium (Tiffany)
    • Deadline extended to tomorrow
    • Holding until we hear back about our submitted symposium
  • Data Management workshop?
    • Submitted application: applied as a hybrid option as place holder
    • Email out to Keith about instructing the course, waiting on his response
  • By-law change (Paul)
    • Action item: Paul is working on edits and will send to Chelsea to send out to the membership.
  • Citizen Science Task Force (Paul)
    • Making progress, and will likely be housed in the stakeholder section, recently approved by governing board.
    • Action item: Paul will reach out to members to see if anyone is interested in participating.
  • Member recruitment and retention lotteries (Paul)
    • Waiting to see the cost of registration and deadlines
  • Other business
    • Action Item: Paul to send Letter of appreciation to Dan and send to Chelsea to write shout out in newsletter and social media
    • Action Item: Paul to invite Bryan Minihan (Webmaster) to the next ExCom meeting

Next Meeting is April 13^th