minu99

Draft : for approval at 2000 Business Meeting

MINUTES OF BUSINESS MEETING OF THE 52^ND CANADIAN CONFERENCE FOR FISHERIES RESEARCH (CCFFR)

Hotel Sheraton Grande Edmonton

January 9, 1999

President Mike Healey called the meeting to order at 1745 hrs Friday January 9, 1999 and welcomed attendees.

Opening remarks and acknowledgements.

At the opening session of the Conference President Healey had thanked all those who had contributed to the success of this year's meeting:

Dick Beamish, Program Chairman, and co-convenors, for an excellent program.

Bill Tonn, Local Arrangements Chair, and all those who assisted with local arrangements

Louis Bernatchez, the Stevenson Lecturer, Everett Fee, the Rigler Lecturer, and all the speakers, convenors and session chairs.

Chris Taggart for setting up and maintaining the CCFFR web site and electronic mailing list.

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 John Casselman (President) and Dave Conley (Treasurer)

The Northeast Division of the American Fisheries Society, especially Linda E. Bireley (President) and Halltech Environmental for their generous contributions to the Clemens Rigler Travel Fund.

The Selection Committee for the Clemens Rigler Travel Fund: Antoine Morin (Chair)John Chétélat, Howard Powles

Minutes of the last meeting/Treasurer's Report

Minutes of the 51st annual CCFFR business meeting (Queen's University, January 3, 1998) and the Treasurer's Report for the period April 1, 1997 - March 31, 1998 (attached) were distributed to all participants. John Lark moved adoption of the minutes, seconded by Allen Curry - carried unanimously.

Secretary Treasurer Powles indicated that CCFFR's financial situation remained good although the treasury had decreased about $600 during the period reported on. Jim Tait moved adoption of the Treasurer's Report, seconded by Daniel Boisclair - carried unanimously.

Clemens Rigler Travel Fund

The report on 1997/98 operations of the CRTF was distributed (attached). Total contributions were $7520 and almost $1400 was carried forward from the previous year due to incomplete take-up of grants. In all $6175 was disbursed for 23 grants, leaving a carry forward of $2727.79 at the end of the year. This level of carry forward is not desirable and an effort was made in 1999 to use the total amount available.

John Lark moved adoption of the report on the CRTF, seconded by John Dower - carried unanimously.

For 1999 a total of almost $12,000 was available due to substantial external donations and the carry forward, and grants of $11975 were made to 35 students.

Several student participants at the meeting indicated their appreciation for CRTF grants.

Criteria for selecting grantees were reviewed. These include quality of the application, indication of support from the supervisor, any recent grants (those who have recently received grants are given lower priority; for 1999 no one who had previously received a grant was accepted), distance from the meeting (those coming from further away get higher priority), and stage in program (higher priority to those closer to completing their degrees). The criteria were generally considered appropriate.

Daniel Boisclair moved a vote of thanks to Antoine Morin for the quality and professionalism of his work in running the CRTF Selection Committee - seconded by Allen Curry and passed unanimously.

Officers and arrangements for 2000

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 (reports in 1999)

Allen Curry reported that the meeting would run from January 6 - 8 (Thursday-Saturday) and would be held at the Lord Beaverbrook Hotel. There are good possibilities for sponsorship for parts of the meeting and for additional contributions to support student travel via the Clemens Rigler Fund. Students are looking at the possibility of organising a silent auction to raise money for the CRTF and there a field trip to St. Andrews could be arranged if there was sufficient interest.

Nigel Lester suggested the following themes for the meeting:

Fish and shellfish culture
Recreational fisheries
Ecology of wild salmonids
Marine productivity and quality.

In addition Chris Taggart had suggested having a theme on GLOBEC (Global Ecosystem Dynamics - Canadian portion) studies. Several participants indicated support for this idea -- this could be combined with the marine productivity theme. The joint session with SCL might be linked to this eg an "aquatic ecosystem productivity" theme.

Participants were invited to communicate any further ideas to Nigel as he finalises the program.

Officers and arrangements for 2001

Cynthia Paszkowski, Nominations Chair, presented the slate of candidates for 2001:

President: Pierre Magnan, Université du Québec à Trois Rivières

Program Chair: Michael Fox, Trent University

Local Arrangements: Nick Collins/Don Jackson, University of Toronto

Nominations: John Post, University of Calgary (reports in 2000)

Cynthia indicated that all officers had agreed to serve and that Collins and Jackson had confirmed their willingness to organise the meeting in Toronto. The slate of candidates was accepted by acclamation.

2001 will be the 100th anniversary of the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences and its predecessors and a special event to mark this anniversary would be good. A number of suggestions were made and it was agreed that Chris Taggart would be asked if a discussion on this question could be organised via the CCFFR web site.

During the discussion a vote of thanks to Chris Taggart for setting up and maintaining the CCFFR web site was moved by Jim Tait, seconded by Mike Fox, and carried unanimously with a warm round of applause.

Venue - 2002

Moved by John Gunn, seconded by John Lark, that the 2002 meeting be held in Vancouver. The motion was carried with three opposing votes. Mike Healey indicated that this might be possible but would have to be confirmed, and agreed to work with John Dower and Scott Hinch to explore the possibilities for a Vancouver meeting.

Recognition of sponsors

Ways of recognising sponsors of the meeting and of the Clemens Rigler Fund were discussed, for example including names and/or logos in the program or on a banner at registration, recognising sponsorship of specific events (eg coffee breaks), setting up awards sponsored by specific organisations, giving tokens of recognition to sponsors. The discussion of several years ago on awards was recalled, at which time it had been concluded that introducing awards would go against the informal spirit of CCFFR; it was agreed that the informal tradition should continue. President Healey summed up the discussion as follows, to general agreement:

letters of thanks would be sent to all those who contributed to this year's meeting;
for Fredericton and subsequent meetings contributors and sponsors would be acknowledged in the program, with logos if desired;
a list (with logos if desired) of sponsors would be prominently displayed at the registration desk;
any other ideas re recognition are welcome (tokens etc)
all sponsors would be recognised on the CCFFR web site.

Any other business

John Lark indicated that Secretary Treasurer Powles might be handing the job to someone else following a change in job status and led a round of applause for Howard's work over the past 5 years.

Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 1850 hrs.

Post script

This year for the first time a pizza buffet was included in registration costs for all participants, with a cash bar in parallel, replacing the traditional CCFFR/SCL banquet. This was generally agreed to be an improvement on the more formal banquet as participation by all was assured and everyone stayed relatively late. An informal canvas after the banquet indicated that this was something which should be continued at future meetings.