MINUTES OF BUSINESS MEETING OF THE 50TH CANADIAN CONFERENCE FOR FISHERIES RESEARCH (CCFFR)



Hotel Westin, Ottawa, Ontario
January 3, 1997

President Bill Beamish called the meeting to order at 17:40 hrs Friday, January 3, 1997 and welcomed attendees. He noted with pleasure the high level of attendance, CCFFR setting another record this year with 230 registered participants.

Acknowledgements

President Beamish thanked, on behalf of CCFFR, the following persons and agencies for their contributions to the success of this year's conference:

  • Chris Taggart, Program Chairman who in addition to lining up an excellent program had set up and maintained CCFFR's first home page, greatly facilitating information flow

  • Darren Gillis, Louis Fortier and Ian Perry, Session Convenors for their contributions to the program

  • John Lark, Local Arrangements Chair

  • Howard Powles, Secretary Treasurer

  • André Tessier, the Rigler Lecturer

  • Moira Ferguson, the Stevenson Lecturer

  • Perse Powles who would be Banquet Speaker later in the evening, and co-authors Bev Scott, Dick Ryder and Don McPhail

  • The Department of Fisheries and Oceans for their continued support for the CCFFR Secretariat and the Clemens Rigler Travel Fund

  • The Canadian Aquatic Resources Section of the American Fisheries Society for managing and contributing to the Clemens Rigler Travel Fund, especially Dana Kinsman (President) and Bob Buchanan (Treasurer)

  • The Society of Canadian Limnologists for their contribution to the Clemens Rigler Travel Fund and for continuing to meet jointly with CCFFR adding to the quality of our meetings

  • The Northeast Division of the American Fisheries Society and Hoskin Scientific Ltd. for their contributions to the Clemens Rigler Travel Fund

  • The Selection Committee for the Clemens Rigler Travel Fund: Antoine Morin (Chair), Susan Wilson, Howard Powles

  • Ronnie Sanford of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for excellent organisation work in support of the CCFFR Secretariat

    Minutes of the last meeting/Treasurer's Report

    Minutes of the 49th Annual Meeting (Montréal, Québec, January 5, 1996) and the Treasurer's Report for the period April 1 1995 - March 31 1996 were distributed to all participants. The minutes were adopted and Treasurer's Report was approved as presented (report appended).
    (M. A. Ali/J. Lark)

    The Secretary Treasurer indicated that CCFFR's financial situation for the 1997 meeting was good.

    Clemens Rigler Travel Fund

    A brief history of the Clemens Rigler Travel Fund was distributed to all participants. President Beamish noted the presence at the meeting of Jean-Paul Cuerrier who had been instrumental in setting up the Travel Fund following the 1972 meeting of CCFFR a nd acknowledged his contribution to CCFFR. There was a round of applause for Mr. Cuerrier. The history is appended to these minutes.

    Operations of the Fund for the 1996 were reviewed. The Secretary Treasurer noted that thanks to two new contributors to the Fund for 1997, the Northeast Division of AFS and Hoskin Scientific, some $7400 was available and 40 students had received suppor t. The Secretary Treasurer was requested to write these donors thanking them for their contributions.

    Officers and arrangements for 1998

  • President: Mark Ridgway, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources
  • Program Chair: Roger Green, University of Western Ontario
  • Local Arrangements: Bill Leggett, Queen's University
  • Nominations: Scott Hinch, University of British Columbia

    Dates for the 1998 meeting were discussed. It was moved and seconded that the meeting be held from Friday January 2 to Sunday January 4, 1998, departing from the tradition of Thursday to Saturday meetings. This proposal was approved. (John Lark/Mike H ealey)

    The pros and cons of having the meeting at Queen's and at a hotel in Kingston were discussed. It was moved and seconded that the meeting be held at Queen's. (John Lark/M. A. Ali)

    CCFFR would be restricted to two rather than three concurrent sessions because of the limited number of conference rooms. There was general consensus that this would not be a problem. There is ample room for posters at the Queen's facilities.

    Don Jackson presented the proposed program themes on behalf of Roger Green who was unable to attend: (1) interaction between terrestrial habitat and aquatic/fisheries habitat (eg fisheries/forestry) (2) experimental management and decision processes for e nvironmental and fisheries problems (3) indicators of fish health for use in environmental monitoring. Session convenors have been approached for these themes. In discussion it was noted that the 1996 joint SCL-CCFFR session had had "the land-water in terface" as theme which was similar to theme (1) as proposed; however there is some good forestry-fisheries work coming to fruition and this could still be a productive theme for CCFFR. A possible CCFFR-SCL joint session theme of "long-term patterns" wa s suggested. It was noted that CCFFR had never had a session on recreational fisheries despite their growing importance and there was general agreement that this could be a productive theme in future. Combining this with coastal zone development and t ourism in general was suggested. These suggestions were put forward for consideration by the Program Chair in finalising the program.

    Officers and arrangements for 1999

    The Secretary Treasurer presented the slate of candidates on behalf of Scott Hinch who was unable to attend:

  • President: Michael Healey, University of British Columbia
  • Program Chair: Richard Beamish, Pacific Biological Station
  • Local Arrangements: Bill Tonn, University of Alberta
  • Nominations: Nicholas Collins, Erindale College of University of Toronto

    The slate of candidates was accepted by acclamation.

    The 1999 meeting will be held in Edmonton, Alberta.

    Venue for CCFFR 2000

    Allen Curry from the Cooperative Unit at University of New Brunswick indicated that UNB would be willing to host CCFFR in future and 2000 was a possibility although this might be too soon. It was agreed that Fredericton would be the preferred venue. If there were any problems in finalising arrangements CCFFR 2000 could be held in Ottawa.

    Other business

    Chris Taggart noted that CCFFR members should be proactive in seeking sponsorship or funding from companies, eg encouraging setting up of exhibits along with the poster sessions. Jim Beckett volunteered to set up a small group to work further on funding possibilities.

    Adjournment

    The meeting adjourned at 18:15 hrs.

    Post script
    At the joint CCFFR-SCL banquet the work of David Cook on editing the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences for many years was recognised. A gift of an engraved silver mug was accepted in David's absence (due to illness) by Natalie Moir of t he Journal staff. In addition to maintaining the high standards for which the Journal is known, David ran the selection process for the Stevenson Lecturer at CCFFR.