This committee was established at the 1995 Chapter annual meeting in Wasilla. The main purpose of this committee is to maintain and keep current the Alaska Chapter web site and the Chapter’s email distribution list.

During the past few years the web site has essentially just been “maintained” (i.e., no new improvements). The web site was successfully used to conduct on-line e-balloting for the elections in the past, but due to changes in the server hosting our site we are conducting e-balloting entirely through email this year, and e-balloting is expected to be used in one form or another into the future. Each newsletter that has been put out during this past year has been made available on our web site in Adobe Acrobat (pdf) format; and information about training courses and meetings of not only the Chapter but also the Parent Society and the Western Division have been posted. New this year has been the conversion of the newsletter distribution system from mail/addressed based system to a mostly email-based system.

The Student Subunit web site is maintained as a portion of our site, and has continued to be maintained by the Electronics Communications Committee. Their web site address is:

http://www.fisheries.org/afs-ak/student

The Student Subunit’s web site includes postings of the officers, meetings, and special event announcements were posted for each of the following active Campus Groups:

• Anchorage-UAA;
• Fairbanks-UAF (University of Alaska Fairbanks);
• Juneau-UAS (University of Alaska Southeast); and

• (Note that the Sitka-Sheldon Jackson College campus group is inactive, as the college has shut down).

The committee continued to maintain an email distribution list for most Chapter members with email addresses in the Chapter's membership database. The distribution list was used successfully to "get the word out" for Chapter activities such as the recent announcements for the 2007 Annual Conference, chapter elections, the chapter newsletter, and other items of interest. Last year the parent Society re-implemented support for our Chapter’s list server, and all Chapter members with an email address (who have chosen to participate) can be members of that list. Currently, the subscription list for this list server is about 6 months out-of-date, and will be updated in the next few months. Chapter members that are subscribed can post email to the list at the following address:

akchap@fisheriessociety.org

The list is moderated by yours-truly due to the 15-50 SPAM-type messages received on a daily basis, that I filter-out before allowing transmission to subscribed Chapter members. Membership in the list is contingent upon membership in the Chapter. Periodically, postings from non-Chapter members have been permitted to be posted for distribution to the list on a case by case basis.

The committee is interested in hearing what members would like to see on our web site. The web site address is:

http://www.fisheries.org/afs-ak

and the e-mail address for sending comment about and contributions to the web site is:

allen.bingham@alaska.gov

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Annual Report – November 2007
Cecil Rich, Committee Chair

The Environmental Concerns Committee was established by the Executive Committee to provide coordinated technical and policy analysis and Chapter input and comments on environmental issues that affect Alaska's fishery resources. This may occur, for example, when the Chapter's opinion or position is solicited by members or by external organizations or agencies. The committee will formulate through consensus a Chapter position on such issues for review by the Chapter Executive Committee. Such positions should reflect the concerns of the membership as a whole. Due to the time-sensitive nature of many environmental issues, review of positions formulated by the committee will be by the Executive Committee.

2007 Activities

I accepted the position as Chair of this committee following the 2006 Chapter meeting.  In January of 2007 a letter was sent to Governor Palin asking her to reverse the decision of the previous Governor Murkowski, which transferred authority for permitting of development activities in anadromous fish habitat from the Department of Fish and Game to the Department of Natural Resources.   Copies of this letter were also sent to State legislators.

A letter was sent to the Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in the spring expressing concern over the Department’s hatchery supplementation of sockeye salmon in lakes in Southeastern Alaska.

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Fisheries Communication and Education Committee

Annual Report -
Laurel Devaney , Committee chair

Laurel Devaney coordinated the continuing education workshop entitled, “Improving Your Scientific Presentation and Speaking Skills” presented by Andi O’Conor, PhD., at the state AFS meeting in Ketchikan. This was attended by 11 people. The course received excellent evaluations which were shared with the Ex Com. Laurel Devaney also coordinated a session at the workshop entitled, “Sharing your message effectively with adults and children” which was also well received. 

If you have any questions or suggestions for the Education committee, please feel free to contact:

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Annual Report –
VACANT, Committee Chair

No report yet - check back later.

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Annual Report – November 2007
Hamachan Hamazaki, Committee Chair

The membership statistics for 2007 are substantively lower over similar figures for 2006. The 2006 membership numbers were likely above normal due to the ‘free’ membership that came with registration at the Parent Society’s annual meeting that was held in Anchorage the previous year (2005). Similarly, the membership figures for 2005 were likely raised, by individuals joining and/or renewing on their own in anticipation of the 2005 AFS meeting in Anchorage. Those suppositions ‘aside’, in comparison to all recent years there appears to be a decline in our Chapter’s membership as of the June accounting, and this decline may be a cause for concern that should be addressed in the upcoming months.

Table 1. AFS membership summary (2003 to 2007).

 The statistics listed for “State/Province” in Table 1 represent the number of different states or locations outside of Alaska where we have members.

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Annual Report - November 2007
Hal Geiger, Committee Chair

Following the temporary closure of Sheldon Jackson College, the institution that our chapter had used for our annual scholarship, the Molly Ahlgren Scholarship committee met several times. Our first concern was for the student, Christian Anderson, who won the award last year. He was able to transfer to a University of Alaska institution, and we were able to see that he received his scholarship. Secondly, the committee met and brought a series of recommendations for the scholarship to the annual Chapter meeting, and the Scholarship committee recommends that these membership approve these changes.

1. The scholarship will be offered, in addition to students from Sheldon Jackson College, to students attending the University of Alaska Anchorage, University of Alaska Fairbanks, University of Alaska Southeast, and Alaska Pacific University.
2. The Alaska Chapter will again make a $5,000 contribution to the scholarship fund in 2007 and 2008, consistent with the resolution approved by the Alaska Chapter in 2005.
3. As long as the principal of the fund is less than $100,000, then 50% of the annual interest income for that year, rounded to the nearest thousand dollars, will be used for a student award, and the rest will be returned to the principal.
4. When the principal of the fund exceeds $100,000 dollars, the yearly amount of the award(s) will be set by the Alaska Chapter’s Executive Committee, after considering a recommendation from the Scholarship Committee.
5. The award or awards will be made annually, if the Scholarship Committee finds a suitable candidate or candidates, and the award(s) must always be derived from the earned interest and not the principal of the fund.
6. The award(s) will be made to (an) undergraduate student(s) in his or her junior year; majoring in ecology, fishery biology, marine biology, or closely related environmental science; and a student in good standing at one of the above-named Alaskan universities.
7. The final selection for the award(s) will be made by the Molly Ahlgren Scholarship committee, in consultation with the Alaska Chapter’s Student Subunits.

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Annual Report - 
Gretchen Bishop, Committee Chair

The Oncorhynchus serves as a medium to distribute information to Alaska Chapter members and other interested individuals. The newsletter is produced by editor, Gretchen Bishop. Gretchen edits and compiles articles submitted by Chapter members then sends the articles to Connie Taylor of Fathom Publishing who designs, lays out, and mails the newsletter. The AFS style conventions, as described at: http://www.fisheries.org/afs/styleguides.html are generally followed. Prior to finalizing the newsletter, electronics committee chair Allen Bingham makes a final edit. Each issue includes a front-page feature article and one or more photos supplied by a volunteer to the editor to include in the newsletter. An effort is made to distribute opportunities to write the feature article between agencies and regions of the state. Everyone is welcome to submit articles for inclusion in the newsletter; photos are encouraged. During the past fiscal year, four regular issues were printed, one at the beginning of each calendar quarter. Content was as follows:

Winter (Vol. 27 no. 1) Oncorhynchus

Fisheries Applications of AOOS
Presidents Column
Election Results
Wally Noerenberg Award
2006 Chapter Awards
Hutton Program
Bear Safety
Bony Fish Contest
Meetings and Events

Spring (Vol. 27 no. 2) Oncorhynchus

Coregonid Research on the Yukon River
Presidents Column
First Call for Papers, Annual Conference
Committee Reports
Field Trip Survival Guide
Meetings and Events

Summer (Vol. 27 no. 3) Oncorhynchus

Yukon River Lamprey
Presidents Column
Second Call for Papers, Annual Conference
Juneau Student Symposium
Fairbanks Student Chapter Activities
2nd Annual Molly Ahlgren Award
Largest Bony Fish Answer
New Book Releases from AFS
Meetings and Events

Fall (Vol. 27 no. 4) Oncorhynchus

POW Stream Restoration
Presidents Column
Final Call for Papers, Alaska Chapter Annual Conference
Officer Candidate Bios
Meetings and Events

This year, the Oncorhynchus has been in the process of changing from paper to electronic distribution. The goals of changing to electronic newsletter distribution were primarily to save money and paper but other advantages and opportunities are becoming apparent. The distribution change has also necessitated a more continuous newsletter layout to facilitate readers scrolling through the newsletter; and we have replaced the AFS application and EXCOMM contact information with web links to avoid duplication with the website. The AFS, Alaska Chapter logo has been incorporated into the front page of the Oncorhynchus and color images have begun to be used. Submission deadlines are the 10th of March, June, September and December. If you have a possible newsletter contribution, please contact Gretchen at: 465-4269, or Gretchen.Bishop@alaska.gov.

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Annual Report  – November 2007
Hal Geiger, Committee Chair

The Past Presidents Committee met once. Although the Committee discussed several items at that meeting, only one important matter rose to the level that the Committee  decided to take some action. Several past presidents liked the idea of a letter about a lowering of the quality of people retained within the State’s fishery management agency addressed to Governor Palin. This letter would express concern for the long-term consequences arising from the Alaska’s new retirement system and the lack of a competitive salary for fishery managers in Alaska. As salaries have fallen and the work environment has become more stressful, many state fishery experts are now attracted to ending their careers early, say by going to higher paid positions in the Federal Government or private industry. The State’s new retirement systems offers no disincentive for leaving Alaskan state service, and with current salaries, a lack of a disincentive is actually an incentive in many cases. The Committee agreed that this issue is actually one related to the effectiveness of Alaskan state fishery management, more than simply an issue of pay for some subset of the Chapters membership. Tim Joyce agreed to draft a letter from the Chapter’s past president, or at least any that would be interested in co-signing, to the governor. As soon as a draft can be prepared, it will be circulated in draft form to other past presidents.

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Resolutions and Bylaws Committee

Annual Report – November 2007
Bill Bechtol, Committee Chair

Annual Summary: The Resolutions and Bylaws Committee is a standing committee of the Alaska Chapter and serves to review proposed resolutions and Bylaw changes and make recommendations to the Executive Committee. Per action taken at the 2005 Chapter business meeting, this committee is also responsible for maintaining the Chapter Procedures Manual. The committee received no proposals for resolutions or bylaws changes during the past year. However, some uncertainty emerged during the past year regarding Chapter procedures to fill the Wally Noerenberg Award (WNA) Committee. To summarize, the committee is comprised of three past presidents and a committee chair that is not a past president, but language of existing procedures resulted in the committee’s past president vacancies being filled by the three individuals that most recently served on the Chapter Executive Committee. Following communication with chapter’s past presidents and with Chapter Historian Randy Brown, the time series of WNA Committee members was updated. It became apparent that, given the growth in Chapter membership since the WNA establishment, the WNA committee was underutilizing the pool of past presidents, contrary to the intent of resolutions establishing the committee. Thus, there was interest in amending the procedures used to fill the WNA Committee. Because the WNA Committee is established in the Chapter procedures, and not in the bylaws, WNA committee procedures may be amended by action of the Chapter Executive Committee. Based on iterative communications with several past presidents and the current and previous chairs of the WNA Committee, new procedural language for the filling the WNA committee was drafted for the WNA committee chair to forward for consideration by the Executive Committee. As part of this process, a list of the membership status of past presidents was compiled by Chapter Membership Manager Allen Bingham. 

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University of Alaska-Anchorage Campus of the Student Subunit
(Corrected title of report)

Submitted by Dona Eidam

The UAA Student Subunit enjoyed an active year hosting monthly guest speakers including Denny Lassuy (“Invasive Species”), Clarence Pautzke (“Research responses to global warming”), and Jack Colonell (“Fisheries on the dark side:  working as a private consultant”).  We conducted two fundraisers, a bake sale and carnival booth, and organized an all-day Seward fieldtrip with 11 participants.  At the Alaska Sealife Center we chatted with Research Director Howard Ferren and graduate student Jared Guthridge about current fisheries research at the center.  We also visited Alutiiq Pride Shellfish Hatchery where students learned about a variety of aquaculture techniques employed in Alaska.  One of our members, Tyler Grossheusch, co-authored a presentation at the San Francisco annual meeting, and 3 club members were privileged to attend the Alaska Chapter meeting in Ketchikan.  We hosted tables at UAA Campus Kickoff and Preview Days where we answered questions about AFS membership to incoming freshmen and interested commercial fishermen on campus.  Our club maintains a List Serve of over 120 subscribers and posts announcements of student fisheries internships, training opportunities, conferences, and fisheries classes available at UAF and UAS.   

University of Alaska-Juneau Campus of the Student Subunit
Fall 2006 through Fall 2007

Submitted by Lisa Kamin

Last April we held our annual AFS Student Symposium. The symposium is intended as an opportunity for students to present results of their theses and other projects in front of an audience of peers and local professionals. It is also designed to provide constructive reviews of the presentations by industry professionals. Last year was our 11^th annual symposium. The Best Student Presentation Award was given to Derrek Faber for his presentation entitled: Rising Land - Falling Fishery: The effects of glacial recession and subsequent land rebound on East Alsek River sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) in Glacier Bay National Preserve, Alaska.We have already begun planning for this year’s symposium.

In December we began a monthly series of brown-bag lunch meetings. The goal of these meetings is to provide an opportunity for students to discuss their projects with other students in an informal setting. Each meeting will feature 2 to 3 students. Presenting students will have the chance to share their project as well as ask for advice or assistance in their project design or data analysis.

We also plan to begin a series of workshops on continuing education and career skill and opportunities. We will hold one workshop per semester. Each workshop will feature a panel of local professionals. The topic of our first workshop will focus on the options available to students graduating from the UAF Fisheries program, including advanced degrees and career opportunities.

Elections were held in the fall and the current officers are:

Lisa Kamin – President
Katie Palof – Vice President
Jennifer Marsh – Officer
Daniel Okamoto – Officer
Michael Malick – Office

University of Alaska-Fairbanks Campus of the Student Subunit
May 2007

Submitted by Jess Johnson

The Fairbanks Student AFS officers for the 2006-2007 academic year were Scott Ayers, President; Sam Decker, Vice-President; Jess Johnson, Secretary; and Jeremy Carlson, Treasurer.

One of our first tasks was to setup our monthly meetings for the school year.  We were able to have meetings every first Wednesday of the month.   At our meetings we encourage anyone to attend, generally getting about 20-30 students, professors and local agency biologists.  At each gathering we auctioned off donated items as a fund raiser for the sub-unit.  For each occasion the sub-unit invited a fisheries professional to come in and discuss/present a fisheries related topic for ~45 minutes.  This years’ talks included the following:

September 2006 - Matt Evenson (ADF&G): An overview of research conducted by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game - Sport Fish division in 2006;

October 2006 - Dave Parker (BLM): Glacial Lake: successful sockeye restoration, or just being in the right place at the right time?

November 2006 - Ronnie Greer (Visiting from Scotland): Ferox Trout & Arctic Charr in Scotland’s Lochs

December 2006 - Carl T Pfisterer (ADF&G): Using Sonar to Count Salmon in the Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim Region

February 2007 - Dr. Amanda Rosenberger (UAF–SFOS): Fisheries management history Lake Victoria, East Africa, role of wetlands in conservation of native fishes

March 2007 - R. Bruce Medhurst (Masters Student, AKCFWRU – UAF): Differences in Headwater Stream Invertebrate Communities across Logging and Climactic Gradients in the Cascade Range, Washington

April 2007 - Aaron Martin (Masters Student, SFOS – UAF): Stream restoration and community development in newly restored fish habitat; effects of nutrient and wood supplementation, Kenai Peninsula

Another activity that several of our members were involved in was the educational ADFG Egg Take Day for Fairbanks school district kids, in early October 2006.  A number of UAF-AFS members volunteered to manage educational booths teaching kids about aquatic insects and various lessons in fish biology.  Students and AFS members also assisted in taking eggs from gravid female coho and fertilizing the eggs for classrooms to rear juvenile coho throughout the school year.

In October and November our group was asked to help gather raffle and door prizes from local businesses for the AK chapter annual meeting in Fairbanks. We also volunteered our time to help with registration and other aspects of the annual meeting.

We also participated in the Alaska Statewide High School Science Symposium (ASHSSS) again. We helped to gather volunteers to judge the science symposium, March 3, 2007 and presented an award for Best Aquatics Research Project. This was the second year that we attended ASHSSS and we are committed to making this an annual affair. We hope that our participation will generate more interest in aquatic sciences. We had two student award winners this year, Kaitlyn Mead and Linda Junge, both received a $100 cash award and a one-year student membership to the American Fisheries Society. The Alaska Chapter of AFS assisted the Fairbanks Student Chapter in sponsoring this award. They generously agreed to match the $100 that the Fairbanks Student AFS could award, and also added the one-year student membership.

In April we sponsored Michael Fraidenburg to come up and give 3 seminars. One seminar was geared toward what happens after graduating, another was geared to management in general, and the last one was a workshop for professionals and students to learn how to run an effective project.

An additional task we set for the year was to design and purchase mugs with our chosen AFS logo printed on them.  We had the mugs made and have been selling these at our monthly meetings and to other people outside of AFS with great success.  We are intending to use the money raised to buy snacks and beverages for the monthly meetings, for the potluck/bbq mentioned below and travel funds for future meetings.

Lastly, we co-hosted an end of the year potluck/bbq social with the UAF School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences (SFOS) April 28.  The SFOS has very generously offered to pay the rental fee for the Musher’s Hall in Fairbanks and the AFS student group will be purchased food and other supplies.  We invited all students, professors and agency personnel to come to the event. 

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Annual Report - November 2007
Ted Otis, Committee Chair

The Wally Noerenberg Award (WNA) for Fishery Excellence is the highest award of the Chapter. It is bestowed to honor an individual's life-long career achievements in fishery excellence. The award was created in 1981, and in 1982 was awarded posthumously to its namesake, Wally Noerenberg. Since then, there have been twelve recipients: Armin Koerning, Robert Armstrong, Clem Tillion, Steven Pennoyer, Jim Branson, Jim Reynolds, Ole Mathisen, Ken Roberson, John Clark, A.J. Paul, Alex Wertheimer, and Lance Trasky. Contributions may include, but are not limited to: fisheries research; technology development; species and habitat management; innovations in harvesting, processing or marketing; academics or fisheries education; and involvement in national and international affairs affecting Alaska fisheries.

The WNA committee is comprised of three Chapter past-presidents and a committee chair that cannot be a past president. Several minor changes to the WNA committee procedures manual were adopted in 2007.  Principal among them is the manner in which committee members are selected.  Instead of the immediate past-President automatically beginning a 3-year term on the WNA committee, new members are now selected randomly from a list of past-presidents who remain active in the Chapter.  The WNA committee members during 2007 were Carol Kerkvliet, Tim Joyce, and Bill Hauser (random selection), with Ted Otis taking over the chair from Doug Palmer.

The committee did not receive any nominations prior to the historical July 31 deadline, so the Wally Noerenberg Award will not be bestowed in 2007.

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