Michigan Chapter, American Fisheries Society 2014 Business Meeting Minutes February 25, 2014 Holland Double Tree, Holland, MI

Transcription

1 Michigan Chapter, American Fisheries Society 2014 Business Meeting Minutes February 25, 2014 Holland Double Tree, Holland, MI Call to Order and Determination of Quorum Patrick Hanchin Patrick called the meeting to order. A quorum of at least 25 current chapter members was determined to be present. Approval of Agenda Patrick Hanchin The Business Meeting agenda was approved after the motion carried unopposed. Approval of 2013 Minutes Patrick Hanchin The 2013 Business Meeting minutes were approved after the motion carried unopposed. President s Remarks Patrick Hanchin Patrick thanked Dave Clapp and other Excomm members for the amount of work over the past year. Patrick also thanked Bob Stuber for handling all the awards and Mark Tonello for handling the paper/poster judging. Patrick wanted to highlight some of the past years events including: continuing education workshop on GIS, and expanded Excomm calls to include all committees, student video contest, and donation to MSU for a student symposium. Patrick talked about the changes in travel awards to help balance our budget to ensure long term sustainability. Patrick discussed the bylaw change regarding student subunit representatives. Previously only Pres or VP could be the subunit chair, bylaws were amended to include any officer of the universities subunit since often the subunits consist of both fish and wildlife students. Patrick mentioned changes to the list serve and mentioned it will be back running soon Patrick highlighted advocacy and the guidelines to advocacy pertaining to how AFS will be more vocal in the future. Patrick mentioned communication between the Chapter and Parent Society will be important for this process. Patrick also thanked the AIFRB for sponsoring the luncheon and awards. Robin DeBruyne spoke on behalf Jeff Schaffer and explained AIFRB and their role. Secretary - Treasurer s Report Billy Keiper Billy went over the treasurer s report. As of December 31, 2013, MIAFS had a balance of $11, This is a $2, decrease from last year. Billy noted this included two outstanding donations ($750) to the equal opportunities and Hutton scholarship programs.

2 We have $11, in our checking account, $5.00 in our savings, and $10.34 in petty cash. The majority of our income comes from dues rebates from the Parent Society, workshop registration fees, membership and meeting fees. The majority of our expenses are in the form of travel grants, donations, meeting expenses, and continuing education expenses. Despite the large amount of money we award in travel grants we still get very few applicants. It s free money so students should try harder to apply. Billy highlighted using Paypal and the benefits, especially for meeting registration. The treasurer s report was approved after the motion carried unopposed. Committee Reports Auditing Troy Zorn reported that our financial records are complete and accurate. Awards Bob Stuber reported that last year s recipient of the Hazzard Award ($100) was Abygail Lynch. The purpose of the Hazzard Award is to recognize excellence in student research in fisheries or aquatic biology at a college or university in Michigan. This year we had one nomination for the Justin W. Leonard Award. The purpose of the Leonard Award is to recognize outstanding professional competence and achievement of a professional employed in the field of fisheries or aquatic biology in Michigan. The 2014 recipient of the Leonard Award is Jim Breck. This year we had zero nominations for the Grayling Award. The purpose of the Grayling Award is to recognize outstanding contributions to Michigan s fishery related resources, to Michigan s fishery profession, or to the Michigan Chapter by a person, industry, agency, or organization. The Janice Lee Fenske award is presented to 2 outstanding students each year, one in the wildlife field and one in fisheries. The 2014 outstanding fisheries student was Emily Barriger from the University of Missouri. She was presented the award at the Midwest Fish and Wildlife Conference. The Fenske Award also selects up to 20 students for a social mixer with professionals at the Midwest conference, this year there were 3 MI students (1 CMU and 2 LSSU) Centrarchid No updates were presented Communications Heather Hettinger reported newsletter updates and discussed the list serve issues. Heather also is looking for suggestions from membership for communication ideas. The MIAFS Facebook page is up to 91 likes to date. Scott Miehls and Heather looking into our own webpage. Janice Lee Fenske Memorial Award - Jessica Mistak had no new updates beyond what Bob Stuber reported.

3 Continuing Education Hanchin reported for Sharon Baker that the continuing education committee had one successful workshop this year here at the Annual Meeting. Dave Clapp and Patrick Hanchin lead a case studies in fisheries management workshop. Hanchin reviewed a membership survey about continuing education workshops and noted that though not many folks attend the workshops, most tend to return. Currently the committee is seeking a co-chair Membership Ralph Tingley reported that membership is slightly down from previous year. Nominating Nothing to report Program- Nothing to report Resolutions Jay Wesley reported that we did not have any new resolutions this year and it has been slow the last couple years. New energy is needed and anyone interested in helping should talk to him. Jay would like to step down as chair and would be willing to help someone get started should they want to take over the position. Rivers and Streams- Nothing to report. Student Concerns Nothing to report, Jared Ross will be stepping down as chair.. Students are encouraged to apply for these awards. LSSU Student Subunit Zach reported that the LSSU subunit had a busy year. Activities for the year included: fish workshops, sampling aquatic invertebrates, and fundraisers for attending meetings like this. LSSU received the best student chapter at the parent society meeting in Little Rock this past summer. Also LSSU has setup a scholarship in memory of a past student. MSU Student Subunit Rebecca Blundell reported that new subunit has been busy and their focus has been on giving students more fisheries experience. Walleye Committee- Cory Kovacs reported that he attended the joint technical meeting in WI with many other agencies. A summary of the meeting can be sent to the membership. Planning on attending in the future as well. Water Quality - Doug Bradley was not present, Hanchin reported for him that 6 WQ issues in Fisheries were coming soon. There will also be a water quality session at national meeting. Send Doug any suggestions you have. North Central Division Updates Gary Whelan

4 The North Central Division is here to serve us and the Chapter. The officers of the North Central Division are: Phil Moy, president, Gary Whelan, past-president, Jason Goeckler, secretary/treasurer, and Brad Parsons, AFS nominating committee. The Role of the NCD is to advance Society goals by coordinating and complementing Chapter activities related to information exchange, outreach, aquatic stewardship, and governance at a regional level, and to maintain a liaison role with regional resource stakeholders. The NCD has 13 chapters which represent 16 states and provinces, ranging from our smallest 34 member Nebraska Chapter to our largest 255 member Michigan Chapter. The NCD has approximately 1500 dues paying members, 27% of which are students and 8% are young professionals. Trends in young professionals and life members are up slightly. Ontario has the only chapter that has 100% society members. The purpose of the NCD is to serve as a liaison between the chapters and student subunits, the technical committees, and the Parent Society. The NCD represents and serves all chapter members. Many chapter members do not belong to the Parent Society but may belong to other professional societies. The purpose of the NCD s technical committees is to promote resource conservation and enhancement within the Division and to serve as the focal point for the collection and dissemination of information concerning important resource issues. The NCD technical committees and their respective chairs are: Centrarchid, Mark Kaemingk, Esocid, Jonathan Meerbeek, Ictalurid, Kirk Hansen, Rivers and Streams, Lucas Borgstrom, Salmonid, Mark Ebbers, and Walleye, Justin VanDeHey. The NCD has 21 active student subunits representing 12 Chapters, with Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, and Wisconsin having multiple student subunits. Each year the NCD awards the Joan Duffy Student Travel Award to one student from each chapter for travel to the Midwest Fish and Wildlife Conference and the Young Professional Travel Award to one young professional for travel to the AFS annual meeting. Each year the NCD also recognizes one fisheries student and one wildlife student with the Janice Lee Fenske Memorial Award ($500 scholarship and plaque). Twenty-five students are selected as finalists each year and attend a breakfast with fisheries and wildlife professionals. Students are encouraged to apply Key Society issues and updates: o New Executive Director- Doug Austin o Strengthening AFS presence in DC which has been lacking for a long time. Tom Bigford is the new legislative liaison o Re-evaluating member services: Mainly online offerings, enhancement of member connections and examine new source journal.

5 o Re-examine advocacy New presidents goals include strengthening the o Library subscriptions are up 4% which are a main source of income for the Society o Distance conferences using web applications will become available soon o Society award due dates will be moved to April 1 New presidents goals o include strengthening the connection between NCD and chapters o keeping membership informed on issues/activities o review and update of bylaws o filling open committee chairs o becoming more valuable to students Old Business Patrick Hanchin thanked both Heather and Brian for running for president elect, Brian Roth was elected as president elect. Installation of New President Dan Okeefe was installed as the new Chapter president. Installation of New President-Elect Brian Roth was installed as the new president-elect. Installation of Secretary/Treasurer Billy Keiper was reinstalled as secretary/treasurer. New Business Awards Presentations Patrick Hanchin presented with Past-President Award. Jim Breck presented with the Leonard Award and bluegill print. Okeefe introduction and goals: Building a bridge between communication and fisheries. Building a youtube channel to get our stories out to the public. Implications of continuing education with potentially longer talks or presentations Student subunit chairs- Trevor Dunn and Rebecca Blundell Discussion on using paypal for collecting dues. Processing fee would reduce dues revenue so a dues increase was discussed. Motion for excomm to review dues increase in comparison to what other chapters are doing and how it would benefit our members. Motion was approved and excomm would begin work on it. Midwest fish and wildlife conference 2016 in Grand Rapids Wayland will be looking for chapter assistance Brian Roth- next year s meeting is open for suggestions. Adjournment - The 2014 business meeting was adjourned at 4:30 pm