AFS Fisheries Information and Technology Section

Executive Committee Meeting Minutes June 9, 2021

Attendees: Tiffany Hopper, Rebecca Krogman, Paul Venturelli

• President-elect election (Tiffany)
  • One potential candidate identified, need at least one more.
  • If you know someone, talk to them and nominate them!
  • Can also review Governing Board members for up-and-coming folks, see if they want to lead FITS.
  • Action Item: Tiffany will post another nomination reminder to all members, wrap this process up in a few weeks
• History webpage collaboration with the History Section (Paul)
  • Going to delegate this to a volunteer, preferably someone who is in both History and FIT Sections.
  • Action Item: Paul will write and post a call for a volunteer
• AFS Baltimore
  • “COVID Effects” Symposium (Tiffany)
    • No communication lately for symposium planners, but the symposia are all posted on the meeting website
    • Action Item: Tiffany will post a reminder of the symposium call for papers, August 16 deadline
    • Action Item: Tiffany will review posted symposia and identify potential overlap – We may want to contact those folks to combine efforts
  • Data Management workshop (Paul)
    • Looks increasingly likely that we will be able to do this in person.
    • We are approved for a full-day workshop, and have updated the workshop schedule.
  • Registration lottery and Student/Early Career membership drive
    • Deadline has been extended to end of the month
    • Application form modified to i) clarify that membership is free for Early Career during this period (usually $5), and ii) account for the fact that members cannot join if they have already renewed (we will share a list with AFS so that they can do it manually).
    • We have 65 applicants already, so this has absolutely worked as a recruitment tool.
    • Next step is retention. What can we do to retain members and keep them engaged?
    • Action Item: Rebecca can post another reminder in about a week to complete the form
• Partnership travel award
  • It is time to resurrect this.
  • Goal is to encourage networking with closely associated groups to share knowledge and trade ideas (e.g., OFWIM)
  • Deadlines every six months, up to two awards per year, with a deadline 2-3 months ahead to allow people to know whether they got an award before they book travel
  • Action Item: Rebecca will adjust details on the award page and post a repeating news reminder
• By-law change (Paul)
  • Likely to pass during the next Management Committee vote on 21 June.
• Other business
  • Center for Fisheries Technology and Collaboration news? (Rebecca)
    • Vendor outreach is moving forward – subcommittee is sending emails to previously unresponsive and new vendors, get a few more products listed and figure out who would make good partners.
    • Vendor terms are now posted on our webpage.
    • User outreach waiting for a few more vendors/products – don’t want to wait too long though! We want vendors to see traffic.
    • Action Item: Kudos to our team!
  • Citizen Science Task Force (Paul)
    • Action Item: This action item is moving along – Paul needs to send some emails.

Next Meeting July 14^th