OCAFS Summer Meeting 2006 Minutes

Summer Business Meeting Minutes
Stone Laboratory, South Bass Island, Ohio
Ohio Chapter of the American Fisheries Society
10:00 am, 25 August 2006

1) Call to Order at 10:08 am by President Eugene Braig. Secretary Eric Weimer determined that a full Quorum was present (19 members in attendance).          Introductions were made for all present.

2) Welcome by President Eugene Braig

3) Officer Reports

        i) President Eugene Braig

ii) President-Elect Andy Burt: Discussed the initial planning steps for the Winter Meeting. No meeting theme has been selected yet; abstracts will be due in October.

iii) Past-President Ken Cunningham (via Eugene): Ken is working on another statistics workshop for March 2007. Topics will be similar to last year’s, although likely tailored to fit a broader range of attendees to encourage non-DOW participation. Workshop overview was handed out.

iv) Secretary/Treasurer Eric Weimer: An updated membership list is available. Chapter currently has $6,353.63 in the account.

v) Webmaster Kevin Kayle (via Andy): The chapter website has been updated and refreshed. Still at same web address. Kevin is looking for chapter-related pictures to put on the website, so please contribute. If you find any errors or bugs, please let Kevin know (info available on website).

4) Committees

i) Committee Reports
(a) Member Services: John Navarro reminded all of the AFS Professional Certification reimbursement program; only Ken Cunningham has used the program this year. The program will reimburse two new certifications and one renewal each year. Also, John is going to send an email to the membership inviting them to subscribe to the AFS job listserve, which will send job announcements to subscribers as they become available.

(b) Aquatic Stewardship: Patrick Kocovsky, the new chair, is seeking committee members. Please contact Patrick if interested (pkocovsky@usgs.gov).

(c) Information Transfer and Outreach: Nothing to report.

(d) Standing Committees: No current Standing Committees.

ii) NCD Technical Committees: A short discussion prior to reports highlighted that we need to find better ways to facilitate communication within the NCD Committees. Travel to bi-annual meetings have become cost prohibitive, and some of the membership are concerned over the general in-activity of the committees between ‘hot’ issues. The situation must improve to ensure future participation in these committees.

(a) Rivers and Streams: John Navarro had nothing to report.

(b) Ictalurid: Rich Zweifel had nothing to report.

(c) Walleye: Deb Walters had nothing to report.

(d) Esocid: Matt Ward (new NCD rep) had nothing to report.

(e) Centrarchid: Kevin Page (new NCD rep) had nothing to report.

(f) Salmonid: Kevin Kayle (via Eric): This committee has been dormant for a couple years, but there has been interest in starting up again. Anyone interested in the committee activities can contact Kevin.

5) Old Business

i) Tabled Resolutions - A discussion ensued regarding how resolutions are introduced. Several members have expressed concern over resolutions being submitted immediately prior to meetings, not leaving a sufficient amount of time for review before calling for a vote. Eugene wondered if we should create a rule requiring resolutions be submitted at least 30 days prior to being voted on to allow the membership sufficient time for review. Others suggested that Robert’s Rules allows a resolution to be tabled until a later date, which should suffice for our purposes, and not require a change to the bylaws. After debate, it was decided that John and Perry Orndorff would develop a policy for resolution submission to reduce future confusion.

(a) Violators Compact: Motion to encourage the adoption of this policy was discussed and passed unanimously.

(b) Commercial Fishing: No comments were submitted prior to the meeting, so this resolution will be tabled until the Winter Meeting. Jeff Tyson submitted a revised Commercial Fishing Resolution for comment; this will be distributed to the membership for review and comment, and a vote is anticipated at the Winter Meeting.

ii) Joint OH-MI-IN Meeting: Pokagon State Park, IN, has been suggested as a meeting location due to its close proximity to cities in both OH and MI that have ample lodging/restaurants to allow state employees to attend without requiring out-of-state travel approval. In addition, the chapters would pay any required conference fees to avoid out-of-state issues. No date has been set, but it will likely occur in Spring 2007, prior to the beginning of field work.

iii) Student Life Sciences Forum: Due to low turnout over the last several years, the Student Forum will be held at Ohio State next year (early 2007). Dr. Lance Williams has volunteered to host the forum. This change is expected to encourage at least a core group of students from the host university to attend. Several members expressed concern whether having a school that is not centrally located would further discourage participation. Another point was raised regarding the necessity of involving the advisors of the target students to arrainge transportation in school vehicles, and to encourage student participation. Finally, a host for the following year (2007-08) was discussed; Dr. Hovarth (Otterbein College) was suggested.

iv) Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Restoration Act: Still accepting comments.

6) New Business

i) Fisheries Statistics Workshop planned for March 2007; as discussed earlier.

ii) Teaming With Wildlife Coalition Letter supporting State Wildlife Grants: Letter will be made available; comments will be received and put to a governing board vote.

iii) OCAFS Committee Structure: The chapter membership appears to be struggling to adjust to the new Committee structure. A list of committees, members, and responsibilities on the new website will be helpful.

iv) NWF Amicus Brief: The chapter has joined the list of organizations (which includes AFS) that have signed a letter requesting the government reduce emissions that promote global warming, which threatens aquatic ecosystems worldwide. While expressing certain reservations (including whether global warming has occurred naturally or not), the OCAFS Governing Board voted to sign on due to the Parent Society involvement and that the reduction of polluting emissions is never a bad thing.

v) Other: The North Central Division of AFS is seeking nominations for the various annual awards; nomination instructions will be sent to the membership.

7) Movement to adjourn made by Scott Hale; Second by Mike Bur. Adjourned at 11:18 am.

Last Modified - 08/29/2006
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