MINUTES OF BUSINESS MEETING OF THE 51ST CANADIAN CONFERENCE FOR FISHERIES RESEARCH (CCFFR)

Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario
January 3, 1998


President Mark Ridgway called the meeting to order at 17:35 hrs Saturday, January 3, 1997 and welcomed attendees. He noted that once again there was a very large turnout with about 220 participants registered (note: final registration was 234 about the same as 1997 giving these two meetings a tie for the biggest on record).

Acknowledgements

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

  • Roger Green, Program Chair, for putting together a stimulating program
  • The local organizing committee, in particular Bill Leggett for pushing construction on the new Biosciences Complex so that it would be ready for the meeting, and Brian Cumming, Tom Herra and John Dower and all the volunteers
  • Bruce Tufts, the Stevenson Lecturer, Norman Yan, the Rigler Lecturer, Jack Vallentyne, the Banquet Speaker, and all the speakers, convenors and session chairs.
  • The Society of Canadian Limnologists for their contribution to the Clemens Rigler Travel Fund and whose continued joint meeting with CCFFR adds to the quality of our conference.
  • The Department of Fisheries and Oceans for their continued support for the CCFFR Secretariat and the Clemens Rigler Travel Fund; particularly to Ronnie Sanford for excellent organisational work.
  • The Canadian Aquatic Resources Section of the American Fisheries Society which manages and contributes to the Clemens Rigler Travel Fund, especially Bill Franzin (President) and Dave Conley (Treasurer)
  • The Northeast Division of the American Fisheries Society (Donna Parrish, President) and Hoskin Scientific Limited for their continued generous contributions to the Clemens Rigler Travel Fund, and to Halltech Environmental for their generous contributi on to the CRTF this year.
  • The Selection Committee for the Clemens Rigler Travel Fund: Antoine Morin (Chair -- and a very special thanks to Antoine for moving the CRTF into the electronic age by putting the whole process on the web this year), Susan Wilson, Howard Powles

    Minutes of the last meeting/Treasurer's Report

    Minutes of the 50th Annual Meeting (Ottawa, January 3, 1997) were distributed to all participants. Jim Beckett was asked whether he had looked into possible additional sources of funding as suggested in the minutes; Jim indicated that he had not been ab le to do so but would try again with assistance from others in 1998. The Minutes were adopted as tabled. (M. A. Ali/John Lark)

    Copies of the Treasurer's Report for the period April 1 1996 - March 31 1997 were also distributed. The Treasurer noted that the final figures on the Clemens Rigler Travel Fund expenditures for the 1997 meeting were yet to be confirmed. The minutes we re adopted and Treasurer's Report approved with the understanding that final figures on the CRTF would be provided in the final report (a copy of the report with final figures is appended to this report). (Bill Leggett/John Lark)

    Clemens Rigler Travel Fund

    The Treasurer noted that external support for the CRTF was continuing and that with the matching funds from Department of Fisheries and Oceans a total of about $7500 was available for student travel to the 1998 meeting. CRTF grants to support travel of 4 2 students had been made. The Northeast Division of American Fisheries Society and Hoskin Scientific again contributed to the fund, and Halltech Environmental had made a contribution which would be applied to the 1999 meetings. Antoine Morin, Chairma n of the CRTF Selection Committee, had put the whole selection process for the 1998 meeting on the web which had considerably streamlined procedures.

    Mark Ridgway indicated that he had looked into new sources of funding for the CRTF in the previous year but that this had not been successful. Other suggestions for possible donations include banks and vendors of fishing equipment.

    Officers and arrangements - 1999

  • 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 (reports at 1998 meeting)

    After some discussion it was agreed that the 1999 Edmonton meeting be held from Friday January 8 to Sunday January 10. Bill Tonn indicated that both a hotel and university venue would be considered although a hotel appeared at this point to be a better solution as courses would already have started at the university.

    Dick Beamish indicated that the overall theme for the 1999 program would be along the lines of "protecting and preserving aquatic ecosystems", particularly appropriate given the new Oceans Act and resulting interest in system-level issues. Possible topi cs include climate change, genetics and fishery management, endocrine disruption, exotic species, ecosystem models, important ecosystem mechanisms. Co-convenors (2) for each topic would focus topics and solicit contributed papers. Volunteers for some topics have been located already.

    Additional topics were suggested for consideration by the Program Committee, including agricultural and other impacts on ecosystems; defining and characterizing ecosystems. The need for a good balance of marine and inland topics was noted.

    Officers and arrangements -- 2000

    Nick Collins, Nominations Chair, presented the slate of candidates for the 2000 meeting:

  • President: Daniel Boisclair, Université de Montréal
  • Program Chair: Nigel Lester, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources
  • Local Arrangements: Allen Curry, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton
  • Nominations: Cynthia Paszkowski, University of Alberta

    The slate of candidates was accepted by acclamation. (John Lark/John Gunn)

    Allen Curry confirmed that UNB-Fredericton would be happy to host the 2000 meetings and indicated that he was already looking into sponsorship for some events. Dates were tentatively set for January 7 (Friday) to January 9 (Sunday).

    There was considerable interest in the idea of "recreational fisheries" as a program theme and those interested were encouraged to lobby the Program Chairman.

    Venue - 2001

    It was noted that CCFFR would be due to return to central Canada in 2001 after swings west (1999) and east (2000) and there was general agreement that it was time a meeting was held in Toronto. Nick Collins and Don Jackson indicated that they would look into this but felt it should be possible.

    Electronic communications

    Chris Taggart noted that for the 1997 meeting all abstract submissions had been by email and the program had been posted on the web prior to the meeting. The postal strike in December 1997 had shown just how convenient electronic communications could b e and John Dower's efforts in setting up a site for the 1998 meeting at short notice were applauded. Chris indicated he would be willing to maintain a permanent CCFFR web site, with assistance from others, on the clear understanding that this would only involve maintenance and that Program Chairs and others would provide the necessary material. A majordomo email signup list could also be set up for circulating CCFFR information.
    He noted that John Dower, Darren Gillis and Daniel Boisclair had agreed to help with setting up electronic communications for CCFFR. The suggestion was greeted enthusiastically and Chris and co. were encouraged to proceed.

    Program Committee

    Possible changes to the program process were discussed. Roger Green noted that based on this year's experience there was a lot of detail work to be done in finalising the program and suggested that abstracts only be accepted when in a standard format. Formally naming a larger Program Committee (not just a Chair), co-opting people at the same institution as the Chair, and having students organise sessions were raised, but the meeting concluded that the system had been successful in producing good progr ams and Program Chairs should continue to organise things as they thought best.

    It was confirmed that meetings should be limited to 2 concurrent sessions maximum.

    The meeting adjourned at 18:25 hrs.