Best Professional Paper

2020

Best: Rachel Grey (FWC).  Kissimmee River Fish Study-Largemouth Bass Telemetry

Honorable Mention: Melissa Garnett (FWC)- Ten Years in Review: Out of Season Spawning Technique of Florida Largemouth Bass

2019

Best: Hunter Hatcher (FWC), A. Strickland, and S. Bisping. Preserving a State Record Fish.

Honorable Mention: Stephen Jones (FWC), B. Thompson, and D. Nelson. Estimating the population change from vegetation expansion at Lake Griffin, FL.

2018

Best: Ed Camp (UF) and B.T. van Poorten. Buffet-style management: increasing satisfaction and participation of diverse anglers.

Runner-up: Wes Porak. Cooperative science with stakeholders and subject matter experts.

2016

Best (tie): Angela Collins (Florida Sea Grant) and R. McBride. Here today, Hog tomorrow: An overview of hogfish research and management in Florida.

Best (tie): Eric Nagid (FWC), T. Tuten, and K. Johnson. Effects of reservoir drawdowns and the expansion of hydrilla coverage on year-class strength of Largemouth Bass.

2015

Best: Steve Crawford (FWC/FWRI). Reflections of an old fish head.

2014

Best: Nick Trippel (FWC/FWRI), J. Hargrove, W. Porak, M. Badolato, J. Skaggs, and M. Allen. Impacts of angling for nesting Florida Bass, Micropterus floridanus, on nest success and recruitment

Runner-up: Jeff Hill (UF, Tropical Aquaculture Laboratory), L. L. Lawson, Jr., and S. Hardin. Assessment of Risks of Transgenic Fluorescent Ornamental Fishes to the United States Using the Fish Invasiveness Screening Kit (FISK)

2013

Best: Angela Collins (FWC/FWRI), L. Barbieri, and P. Motta. One fish, two fish, where’s that huge fish? Long-term tracking of goliath grouper after catch and release

Runner-up: Kerry Flaherty (FWC/FWRI), T. Switzer, B. Winner, S. Keenan, and A. Tyler-Jedlund. Improving indices of abundance for gray snapper in eastern Gulf of Mexico estuaries: results from four years of habitat-based sampling of polyhaline seagrass beds

2012

Best: Phil Stevens (FWC), and G. Poulakis. Juvenile fish use of specific locations within the environmental gradients of coastal rivers

Runner-ups: Chris Bradshaw (FWC), and B. Sauls. Automated Video Assessment of Recreational Discards

Ryan Rindone (Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council), G.T. Kellison, and S.A. Bortone. The Search for Juvenile Red Snapper Lutjanus campechanus in Southeastern US Atlantic Waters

2010

Best: Kim Bonvechio (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission), T.F.. Bonvechio, and R.L. Cailteux. Proposed standard weight (Ws) equation and standard length categories for Suwannee Bass Micropterus notius.

Honorable Mention: Chris Bradshaw (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission), and B. Sauls. Keeping track of what you toss: The fate of for-hire discards.

2009

Best: Angela Collins (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, St. Petersburg). Goliath Grouper in the Gulf: A Goliath survey of reefs and wrecks off Florida’s central west coast.

Honorable Mention: Jessica Carroll (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, St. Petersburg). Carroll, J., and S. Lowerre-Barbieri. Assessing Sex Specific Growth and Mortality in Spotted Seatrout, Cynoscion nebulosus, in Tampa Bay Florida.

2008

Garreau, C. and D. Scheidt. Watercraft use patterns in the federally managed portions of Mosquito Lagoon, east-central Florida

Runner Ups:

Vecchio, J. and T. Switzer, T. Say Cheese! A pilot study to assess the use of stationary video camera arrays in monitoring reef-associated fish assemblages

Flaherty, K.E., B.L. Winner, T.S. Switzer. Catch and release mortality estimates for red drum in Tampa Bay, FL

2007

Collins, A. B. and R. S. McBride. The Hogfish Cooperative Research Project: Science with Spearfishers

Runner-up:

Allen, M. S., M. W. Rogers, R. A. Myers, and M. W. Bivin. Simulated Impacts of Tournament-Associated Mortality on Largemouth Bass Fisheries

2006

Population connectivity in Gulf of Mexico red snapper inferred from otolith elemental signatures, Will Patterson, J.H. Cowan, Jr., C.A. Wilson, and Z. Chen

Runner-ups:

Diet of the nonindigenous Asian swamp eel Monopterus albus (Synbranchidae) in tropical ornamental aquaculture ponds in west central Florida, Jeff Hill and C.A. Watson

The Battle of Atlanta: control and containment options for a (relatively) northern population of Asian swamp eels, Tom Reinert, C.A. Straight, and B.J. Freeman

2005

Population Viability of Suwannee River Gulf Sturgeon: Inferences from Capture-Recapture and Age-Structured Models, by Pine, W. E., III and M. S. Allen.

Runner-up:

Ichthyofaunal survey of the St. Lucie estuary and effects of freshwater inflow: Too much of a good thing?, by Winner, B. L., T. S. Switzer, J. Whittington, and N. Dunham.

2004
An overview of changes in data and techniques used to prepare stock assessments for Florida’s marine resources by Mike Murphy
Runner Up: Managing largemouth bass fisheries with length limits in Florida by Wes Porak

2003
Investigation of non-lethal methods for aging subadult and adult red drum in Florida by Derek Tremain

2002
Jennica Lowell, Ruth Francis-Floyd, Darryl Parkyn, and Robert Bakal for their talk titled “The safety of some commonly used therapeutic chemicals on shortnose sturgeon eggs and juveniles”, and Chris Powell, Kathryn Tisdel, and Luiz Barbieri for their paper titled “A Comparison of Methods Used in Processing Otoliths from Florida Pompano (Trachinotus carolinus)”.

2001

None presented due to joint meeting with the Southern Division

2000

Bruce Cooper and Wayne Bennett, “Culture of Neotropical Pacu, Colossoma bidden, in Florida and its Potential for Exotic Introduction.”

Honorable Mention: Mike Allen and William Pine, “Can Fishery Managers Detect Fish-Population Responses to a Minimum Length Limit?”