The Bioengineering Section of the American Fisheries Society

Current Projects

Current Section projects are listed below. If you see a project you would like to be involved with, or have any comments, please contact the listed Committee Chair or project leader...

BIOENGINEERING SYMPOSIUM PLANNING: On a periodic basis (in the past it was every 5 years; however, more frequent symposia are now encouraged) symposia on bioengineering topics are held in association with the AFS Annual and Division Meetings. Symposium planning is conducted by the Section’s EXCOM and by individual Section members. Section members interested in proposing symposium topics or who wish to support their planning and execution should contact the Section President, Ted Castro-Santos at tcastrosantos@usgs.gov; 413-863-3838

CONTINUING EDUCATION PROGRAM: The Section has established a Continuing Education Committee and planning for 2010 and future Continuing Education Program courses is underway. If you are interested in participating on the Committee or have an interest in potentially becoming an instructor for future courses, please contact Past-President Doug Dixon at ddixon@epri.com or 804-642-1025 (Virginia Office). Additional information on the Section’s Continuing Education Program can be found on the Continuing Education Page.

STUDENT TRAVEL AWARD: The Section has established a Student Travel Award. The awards will begin in 2010. Additional information, eligibility requirements and application information are available on the What’s New Page.

STUDENT AWARD: Develop a Bioengineering Student Award, including description of contest and application form. Provide materials to the Section Webmaster for posting at the Section web site. Status: No activity. This award was originally conceived in 1994 as a "student design project contest". Nothing has been accomplished. Lead: OPEN. Anybody want to take on this project?

CERTIFICATION PROGRAM: Finalize adoption status of the Bioengineering Certification Program in coordination with the Certification Program under the Parent AFS. Status: Preliminary description of program is currently available in the Procedures Manual. Do we need this program? Lead: OPEN.

ELECTRONIC DIRECTORY: Update the Section membership directory. Use the Parent AFS member database for member name, organization, address, and phone, fax, and email. Provide data to the Section Webmaster as a spreadsheet (e.g., MS Excel) or database (e.g. MS Access) file. Status: Not completed. This needs to be repeated annually. Is it possible to automate this task or accomplish it through the parent society? Lead: OPEN.

NETWORKING: Develop expertise/interest based networking groups, using the Section web site and email for network development and communication. Status: The FishPass Listserve is now on-line as a web page and can be found at http://www.fishpass.org. The Section also maintains a member ListServe at bioeng@lists.fisheries.org and its use is open to Section members subject to approval of the ListServe Adminsitrators (i.e., Section President and Secretary/Treasurer).

PUBLICATIONS: The Section’s EXCOM would like to develop a list of Section publications, including short descriptions of contents and ordering information. The list is to be provided in html format to the Section Webmaster for posting at the Section web site. Maintain current version at the Section web site by resubmitting revised versions as required. Status: No activity. Lead: OPEN.

NEWSLETTER: As each Section Newsletter is published, provide the Newsletter in html format to the Section Webmaster for posting at the Section web site. Establish mutually beneficial and complementary roles for the Section Newsletter and web site. Status: Ongoing. Lead: Alex Haro

STRATEGIC PLAN: The parent AFS and other such organizations find strategic plans to be useful. Does the Section need one? Status: See some discussion topics below. There has been no recent activity (as of 2009) on the Strategic Plan. Lead: NONE.

Strategic Plan

Some potential discussion items regarding development of a strategic plan for the Bioengineering Section are listed below. This listing is preliminary and incomplete. Inputs from the Section Membership and EXCOM are welcome.

Initial questions to be addressed include whether a strategic plan is needed, the purpose and scope of the plan, and how best to develop a strategic plan.
We should address the different situations of the Fishery Bioengineering (fish habitat and passage) and Aquacultural Engineering (fish culture and culture systems) constituencies of the Section.
While the fishery bioengineering constituency is represented mainly by the Section, the aquacultural engineering constituency may be represented by the Section and/or the Aquaculture Engineering Society (AES). In recent years, the AES has established a major presence in aquacultural engineering (membership now exceeds 200) and has in some ways duplicated activities of the Section in the area of aquacultural engineering.
It would be useful to establish a mutually beneficial and complementary relationship between the Section and the AES in the area of aquacultural engineering. The nature of this relationship should be based on the existing strengths of the Section and of the AES. Thus, a potential scenario for this relationship is 1) for the Section to focus on fish performance (behavior, survival, growth, feeding, metabolism, and physiology) in aquaculture production systems and on the rearing of fish specifically for wild release and fishery enhancement and 2) for the AES to focus on aquaculture system unit-processes of water transport, water treatment, and fish rearing units. This division of objectives will not necessarily represent any formal agreement between the Section and the AES, but rather a planning concept for internal Section use that draws on our existing strengths and unique capabilities and avoids overlap with the content of AES meetings and publications.
An additional consideration is the professional-meeting venues that best support and serve the fishery and aquaculture constituencies of the Section. These venues are likely to be the annual AFS meetings and periodic Passage/Habitat Symposia for fishery bioengineering, while World Aquaculture Society (WAS) and AES meetings may best serve people in aquacultural engineering. With our fishery-bioengineering presence at AFS meetings and Section symposia established, it seems appropriate to also establish a presence of the Section at the WAS and AES meetings, under the context of aquacultural engineering. This includes both Section sponsorship of technical sessions and symposia and an additional meeting opportunity for the Section Executive Committee.