Theme: Resilience – The importance of past, continuing and future explorations in Fisheries Science
March 19–20, Virtual via Zoom
On March 19th and 20th, the AFS-OC hosted our 2021 Annual General Meeting & Conference. Due to the situation related to the COVID-19 pandemic, we established a virtual platform to host the meeting for the first time, and it was a great success. There were 108 registrants, with just over half AFS-OC members and participation peaked at around 80. We invited two Keynote speakers, as well as two speakers to discuss applied approaches in fisheries resource management. In addition, the lineup of oral and poster presentations hit upon historical and contemporary, direct and indirect anthropogenic impacts on fisheries resources.
Our Keynote speaker on day one was Dr. John M. Farrell, Professor and Director, Thousand Island Biological Station, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Dr. Farrell’s talk entitled “The Fish Ecology of Place on the St. Lawrence River: What Does Long-Term Research Say About Responses to a Changing Environment?” highlighted the importance of long-term monitoring programs for local biodiversity using the TIBS field station and targeted sampling indices to understand ‘ecology of place’.
Our Applied Talk speaker on day one was Christopher Pfohl, Senior Aquatic Ecologist with R.J. Burnside & Associates Limited who provided an overview of the Barefoot Box Culvert™ technology for stream restoration and some exciting results from a pilot study on thermal stability and critical habitat for Brook Trout.
The business meeting was held on Friday afternoon. Following a short break after the meeting, we attempted to recreate our mentorship event through a discussion among professionals and students, a component of the in-person AGM that could not be overlooked. Thanks to the generous donation from the Royal Ontario Museum, we able to raffle three seats in the ROM Fish ID Workshop series to support students and early career professionals throughout the conference.
Our Keynote speaker on day two was Dr. Christina Semeniuk, Associate Professor, Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, University of Windsor. Dr. Semeniuk outlined an exciting new program to assist fisheries students in gaining valuable research and applied skills to complement academic research experience. Her talk “Introducing FishCAST: New NSERC CREATE-funded career-training program for students and postdoctoral fellows in fisheries management and conservation” led to a fruitful discussion, co-presented with Catherine Febria, Associate Professor at Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, University of Windsor. Topics of discussion surrounding the barriers students face transitioning between academic and industry career paths, support from fisheries community professionals, and even some potential project ideas and collaborations for future students.
Our Applied Talk speaker on day two was Justin Chan, A/Technical Development Coordinator for Fish Culture with Ontario Ministry of Natural Re-sources and Forestry who provided a fascinating overview of the Normandale Fish Hatchery and associated stocking projects.
The E.J. Crossman Award winner for best student presentation was Lindsay Potts from McGill University for her talk entitled “Exploring the effects of elevated water temperature on the imperilled Pugnose Shiner”. The President’s Award winner for best student poster was Christian Therrien from the University of Waterloo for his poster entitled “Investigating the effects of Rainbow Smelt invasion on Lake Trout restoration in the Sudbury Basin”.
Video presentations are available for viewing below and abstracts are presented in the 2021 AGM Program.
The Outstanding Mentor Award, presented by the Student Subunit, was awarded to Barbara Elliot, Professor, Ecosystem Management Program, School of Environmental and Natural Resource Sciences, Fleming College for her outstanding mentorship and support of students in fisheries science.
Keynotes
Keynote 1: The Fish Ecology of Place on The St. Lawrence River: What Does Long-Term Research Say About Responses to a Changing Environment? – John Farrell Video Presentation
Keynote 2: Introducing FishCAST: New NSERC CREATE-funded career-training program for students and postdoctoral fellows in fisheries management and conservation – Christina Semeniuk and Catherine Febria Video Presentation
Applied Talks
Applied Talk 1: Barefoot Box Culvert™ – Providing Sensitive Habitat Solutions – Christopher Pfohl Video Presentation
Applied Talk 2: Normandale Fish Hatchery Tour – Justin Chan Video Presentation
Oral Presentations
Talk 1: A 25 Year History of How Pre-Season Angling has Impacted the Black Bass Population in Lake Opinicon, Ontario – David. Philipp Video Presentation
Talk 2: Invasive Species and Angling Combine to Alter Smallmouth Bass Nesting Behavior in the St Lawrence River – Madison Philipp Video Presentation
Talk 3: Outcomes of a Survey of Lake Users about Black Bass Competitive Angling on Big Rideau Lake, Ontario – Alice Abrams Video Presentation
Talk 4: Assisted recovery reduces post-release behavioural impairments in angled Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) – Auston Chhor Video Presentation
Talk 5: The influence of artificial lure hook type on hooking characteristics and injury of angled freshwater gamefish – Alexandria Trahan Video Presentation
Talk 6: A practitioner’s guide for bending the curve for freshwater biodiversity – Steven Cooke Video Presentation
Talk 7: Seasonal variation of brain size and structure in a freshwater top predator – Evan Versteeg Video Presentation
Talk 8: Exploring the effects of elevated water temperature on the imperilled Pugnose Shiner – Lindsay Potts Video Presentation
Talk 9: Changes in freshwater fish co-occurrence patterns across Ontario – Timothy Law Video Presentation
Talk 10: A 10 minute summary of 20 years of fish community data collected through the Regional Watershed Monitoring Program – Jan Moryk Video Presentation
Poster Presentations
Poster 1: Investigating the effects of Rainbow Smelt invasion on Lake Trout restoration in the Sudbury Basin – Christian Therrien Poster Video Presentation
Poster 2: The human dimensions of the shore-based shark fishery in Florida, USA – Jessika Guay Poster Audio Presentation
Poster 3: Diversity of chars in the central Canadian Arctic – Spencer Weinstein Poster Video Presentation
Photo Gallery
We would like to thank our sponsor who provided prizes for the raffle.
