It's time for the annual election of new Chapter officers--Vice President and Secretary-Treasurer. Look for the candidate's resumes in this electronic issue of our newsletter and, for our members, look for the official ballot in the hard copy of the newsleter mailed to you.
The 1996 annual meeting of the Alaska Chapter is coming together, and it's going to be a great one! The meeting will be at the Princess Hotel in Fairbanks, November 19-21. Call (800)426-0500 for hotel reservations and be sure to say you are with AFS to get a rate of $69 per night for single or double occupancy. For discounts on airfares with Alaska Airlines, call (800)445-4435, 6 am to 5 pm, and ask for the AFS group discount #CMR1784.
Many sessions are full, but several still have openings. Contact the session chairs if you would like to present a paper in one of those sessions. Opportunities to arrange working luncheons (with buffets) or workshops are also still available. Workshops can be held concurrent with sessions or on Monday, Tuesday, or Thursday evenings. Please give me a call if your working group wishes to arrange for a meeting place and time in rooms adjoining the main conference area.
If there still are many members who wish to give presentations but have not already contacted session chairs, I will accommodate the membership by arranging concurrent sessions. Annual meetings serve as our opportunity to share information and ideas with fellow biologists, and I will try not to turn anyone away who has something to say. I may request that potential speakers consider submitting a poster instead of giving a presentation if scheduling becomes very difficult.
We will have several guest speakers who will add insight and expertise to our sessions. I am pleased to offer the membership the opportunity to hear presentations from an array of guest speakers on a variety of subjects. Most sessions will begin with an introduction or an overview. The introduction will introduce terms and concepts to help in following technical presentations. Overviews will provide current status reports on the session topic.
The Plenary Session and Session 1 are devoted to the meeting theme, inter-relating multiple objectives. The meeting's featured fishery (Session 2) is the Yukon River, a vast system that runs through Canada and Alaska. In keeping with a "one river" concept, the Yukon River session is co-chaired by Alaskan and Canadian counterparts, and covers diverse topics by speakers from both countries. Session 3 explores the various values placed on diverse fisheries, and how these values relate to management policy. Session 4 touches on some developments in the North Pacific. Session 5 exposes habitat concerns, and Session 6 explores the woes and benefits of multi-agency studies. Session 7 offers contributed papers on many fine topics.
Questions? Contact Peggy Merritt at 459-7296, fax 456-2259, or e-mail pmerritt@fishgame.state.ak.us
Morning: EXCOM Meeting. Afternoon: Registration and Poster
Session, David Wiswar, Chair (456-0453). Evening: No-host
social hour.
Morning: Continuing Registration. Plenary Session, Welcome and opening remarks, Dana Schmidt, President, Alaska Chapter, and Bryan Hebden, President, North Pacific International Chapter. Keynote Speaker: Social science, natural science, and natural resource management, David Policansky, National Research Council, Wash., D.C.
Morning: Session 1, Optimization Methods for Multiple Objectives (Full), Milo Adkison, Chair (786-3576); 1) Introduction and overview of the quantitative objectives used in fisheries management, Terry Quinn II; 2) Guest speaker: The art and science of multiple-objective policy analysis: applications for fisheries management, Gil Sylvia, Hatfield Marine Science Center, Oregon State University; 3) Balancing conservation, economic, and political concerns in multi-stock fisheries management of Pacific salmon: a model simulation, Norma Sands; 4) Guest speaker: Results and conclusions from the National Research Council OSB study on marine fish stock assessment models, Terry Quinn II; 5) Using the analytic hierarchy process for prioritizing options to judgmental problems: applications to multiple objective fisheries cases, Peggy Merritt.
Afternoon: Session 2, Featured Fishery--The Yukon River (Full), Tom Kron (267-2166) and Burt Hunt (403-393-6717), Co-Chairs; 1) Overview: The Yukon River salmon fishery, Tom Kron and Sandy Johnston; 2) Non-governmental advisory processes pursuant to the umbrella final agreement (Yukon Land Claim), Gerry Couture; 3) Yukon Salmon Committee--nature and purpose, Gordon Zealand; 4) The Restoration and Enhancement Fund, Tom Kron and Burt Hunt; 5) Cooperative management on the Yukon, Dan Albrecht; 6) Yukon River subsistence salmon fisheries in Alaska, Borba and Hamner; 7) Consequences of alternative management actions on a stochastic sequential fishery: The Yukon River salmon fishery, Keith Criddle; 8) Genetic diversity patterns of chum salmon of the Yukon River, Seeb and Crane; 9) Feasibility of large-scale tagging studies on fall chum salmon returns in the Yukon drainage, Lubinsky and Eiler; 10) Analysis of basin-wide relationships between Yukon River chum salmon production and possible environmental drivers, Gordon and Knudsen.
Evening: Workshop 1, Aquatic Education, Patrick
Holmes, Host (486-1815).
Morning: Session 3, Fishery Values [Room for more speakers], Mike Mills, Chair (267-2369); 1) Introduction, John Duffield; 2) Guest speaker: Tanana Valley major stocked water angler survey: use and valuation estimates, John Duffield, University of Montana; 3) Estimated revenue increases in Canadian landed Pacific halibut due to the IVQ Program, Mark Herrmann; 4) A regional economic approach to evaluating natural resource policy: the case of the Norton Sound red king crab fishery, Joshua Greenberg; 5) The economic value of trout fishing trip attributes in Washington State, Todd Lee; 6) Estimating net benefits of reallocation: discrete choice models of sport and commercial fishing, S. Haley.
Morning: Workshop 2, Age-Structured Assessment Models, Fritz Funk, Host (465-6113); Discussion will focus on current issues in fitting stock assessment models to heterogenous data, oriented toward persons familiar with spreadsheet applications of these models. Topics include weighting data sets; weighting observations in datasets (residual distributions and transformations); bootstrapping in Excel; and tips, tricks, and nuances of Excell's Solver-Alternative Optimizers.
Noon: Past Presidents Luncheon.
Early Afternoon: Session 4, North Pacific International Fisheries [Room for more speakers], Bryan Hebden, Chair (604-371-6927); 1) Overview, Bryan Hebden; 2) Guest Speaker: Population biology of salmon in the North Pacific, Vladimir Radchenko, TINRO, Vladavostok; 3) Groundfish fisheries and biodiversity in northern oceans, Al Tyler; 4) The Pacific Salmon Commission process, ESA, and Northwest coast salmon, Jeff Koenings.
Early Afternoon: Workshop 3, Sheefish Management and Research, Tevis Underwood, Host (456-0512); Topics: Historic perspective; current status--Kobuk/Selawik; genetic perspective; and subsistence, commercial, and sport harvest.
Mid-Afternoon: Business Meeting.
Evening: Banquet.
Morning: Session 5, Watershed Management Relating to Fisheries [Room for more speakers], Jackie LaPerriere, Chair (474-6043); 1) Overview, Jackie LaPerriere; 2) Dolly Varden response to a lead-zinc mine, Phyllis Weber-Scannell and Fred Decicco; 3) The Delta Clearwater River and its watershed, Jackie LaPerriere; 4) Watershed Management relating to fisheries in the Delta Clearwater River, Fronty Parker; 5) Seasonal distribution of habitats used by juvenile steelhead trout in Southeast Alaska: management implications, Brenda Wright; 6) Status of water rights, Christopher Estes.
Morning: Workshop 4, Northern/Interior Chum Salmon Ecology, Field Methods, Eric Knudsen, Host (786-3842); Topics: Cooperative, systematic fry/smolt sampling; limiting factors for production; estimating overwinter egg survival; and spawner distribution.
Afternoon: Session 6, Freshwater Fisheries: Multi-Agency Issues and Solutions [Room for more speakers], John Burr, Chair (459-7220); 1) Overview: Jurisdictional changes and freshwater fisheries management, John Burr; 2) An overview of the cooperative Dall River Research Project, Burr and James; 3) The Tongass Plan--issues and experiences, Steve Elliott; 4) Cutthroat trout studies on Admiralty Island--An example of a successful partnership between the U.S. Forest Service and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Harding and Laker.
Afternoon: Session 7, Contributed Papers (Full), Judy Gordon,
Chair (456-0511); 1) Use of split-beam sonar to describe the
migratory behavior of adult fall chum salmon on the Chandalar
River, Alaska, Bruce Osborne and David Daum; 2) Health
and condition of outmigrating juvenile chinook and chum salmon
near the Chena River Dam, Michael Daigneault; 3) The Dutch
Harbor herring fishery--a status report, Patrick B. Holmes;
4) Estimation of abundance and mortality of chum and chinook
salmon outmigrants in the Chena River, Brent Peterson; 5)
Estimating the effects of mail survey nonresponse on estimates
of harvest of sport-caught Alaska fish; Allen Bingham.
Adjourn.
Proceedings of the 1993 symposium on the Exxon Valdez oil spill are now available. The Alaska Chapter had a major role in organizing the Symposium and producing the proceedings. Many of the authors and two of the editors are Alaskans and Chapter members. The Chapter cosponsored the symposium and proceedings, and Chapter member Bruce Wright was Chair of the Symposium Committee.
In March 1989, just before Pacific herring spawned and millions of salmon fry emerged from spawning beds, as thousands of ducks inhabited the coast of the Kenai Peninsula, as millions of seabirds converged on breeding colonies, as sea otters maintained their dense fur against an unusually cold winter, and as killer whales, humpback whales, northern sea lions, and harbor seals inhabited the northern Gulf of Alaska, the tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef spilling 42 million liters of crude oil into Prince William Sound, resulting in the largest tanker oil spill in U.S. waters.
The symposium was organized in 1993 to report results of oil spill studies. Although hindered by lack of prespill baseline data, hundreds of scientists worked to document population counts, carcass counts, mortality rates of eggs and larvae, and sublethal effects of oil on subarctic fish and wildlife. The damage assessment studies presented in this proceedings of the February 1993 symposium, from population census work to processoriented ecological studies, set the groundwork for restoration programs.
This volume contains 61 papers comprising the most comprehensive collection of scientific papers on the oil spill published to date. Contributions by over 150 authors, evaluated by more than 100 peer reviewers, make this a significant record of the effort to determine the extent and nature of the damage caused by the oil spill. The papers are organized into 12 subject areas: Fate and Toxicity, Subtidal, Subsistence, Treatment Effects, Intertidal, Herring, Salmon, Other Fish, Birds, Mammals, Archaeology, and Human Impacts. Author and subject indexes make this massive compendium reader friendly.
The book can be purchased for US$35.00 plus $4.00 postage per book shipped inside the U.S.; $6.00 per copy elsewhere. Orders may be placed by phone (412-7415700), fax (412-7410609), or by writing to AFS Publication Fulfillment, P.O. Box 1020, Sewickley, PA 15143. The citation is Rice, S. D., R.. B. Spies. D. A. Wolfe, and B. A. Wright (Eds.). 1996. Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Symposium Proceedings. American Fisheries Society Symposium Series Number 18. 926 p.
Items from the Alaska Chapter American Statistical Association's September 1996 newsletter: The home page for the ASA Alaska Chapter has recently moved to http://www.uafcs.alaska.edu/~asa/index.html. The 1997 Meeting of ASA's Alaska Chapter will be in Fairbanks, though a specific time has not been set. The tentative guest speaker is Dr. Julian Besag, University of Washington. The meeting Chair is Ron Barry at 4747226 email: FFRPB@aurora.alaska.edu.
The candidates for office this year are Cindy Hartmann and Mary Faustini for Vice President and Allen Bingham for Secretary-Treasurer. All ballots must be original Oncorhynchus newslatter ballots. No photo copies allowed. So find your hard copy of the newsletter and fill in your ballot and mail to the address indicated on the ballot.
Cindy lives in Juneau and works for the National Marine Fisheries Service in the Protected Resources Management Division. Her current job involves work in a variety of habitat issues including review of Army Corps of Engineers permits, Department of Transportation projects, hydropower projects, Forest Service EISs, and mining proposals. She has been a core team member on the Alaska Watershed Workgroup. She will be working on the NMFS Habitat Strategic Plan and helping to define "essential fish habitat" under the reauthorized Magnuson Act.
From 1991 to 1995, she worked in Sitka for the Forest Service as a biologist on timber sale planning. She was responsible for the wildlife and subsistence analysis with oversight over fisheries, hydrology, and soil resources. From 1983 to 1991, she worked in Ketchikan for the Forest Service as the Ketchikan Ranger District (KRD) fisheries biologist. One of her accomplishments on KRD was the construction and monitoring of the Margaret Creek fish pass. Prior to moving to Alaska, Cindy worked in the Washington Office of the Forest Service for 2 years as a biologist on the Wildlife and Fisheries staff. Other job experiences include working as a Conservation Intern for the National Wildlife Federation, for a consulting firm at Cordova Nuclear Power Plant (on the Mississippi River), two seasons with the Iowa Conservation Commission (now called DNR), one summer doing passerine bird research, and several summers as a Girl Scout camp counselor.
Cindy graduated from Iowa State University with a B.S. in Fisheries and Wildlife Biology in 1979. She expects to complete a Masters in Public Administration from the University of Alaska Southeast this December.
Past involvement with the Alaska Chapter of AFS includes presenting papers at two meetings and being the Local Arrangements Chair for the 1994 Annual Meeting in Sitka. Cindy says that she would bring a variety of experiences to the Alaska Chapter. She feels her experience would serve the Chapter well, given the many issues facing our group. She said she would find the office personally challenging and will strive to do her best to accomplish Chapter goals and provide leadership and vision.
Mary is currently employed as a Fishery Biologist by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Kenai Fishery Resource Office in Kenai. She recently transferred to this position after working 4 years at the Fishery Resource Office in King Salmon. Before moving to Alaska, Mary was a Fishery Biologist with the Forest Service on the Klamath National Forest, California. There, her work centered around habitat and land management issues. Mary began her career in 1988 as an Area Fishery Biologist with the California Department of Fish and Game. Mary graduated from the California Polytechnic State University in 1987 with a B.S. in Environmental and Systematic Biology.
Mary has been a member of AFS since 1986. While living in California, she attended each year's Chapter meetings. Mary has served on the Continuing Education Committee for the Alaska Chapter, and once took the lead in organizing a technical writing workshop held in Anchorage.
"It is both exciting and sobering for me to seek office with AFS. With my recent move to a more accessible part of Alaska, I feel able to become more active in Chapter activities. My traveling work history has given me the opportunity to work with fishery professionals from many agencies representing diverse fisheries issues. One consistent trend I have observed is the increasing complexity of our field and of our individual jobs. To address these numerous and expanding fisheries issues, I advocate that the Society ensure a large, diverse, and technically excellent cadre of fishery scientists. A strong and innovative Continuing Education Program is the key toward this goal. Chapter meetings are also important in providing a forum for our professionals to meet and benefit from the rich cultural and professional diversities represented in Alaska. After having lived in an isolated community where access to information and peers was limited, I especially appreciate the value of professional interaction. Therefore, I would encourage the availability and use of electronic networks as a practical and vital method to participate in state, national, and international forums, and having access to the latest developments in the field."
Allen Bingham has been employed since 1981 by ADF&G Division of Sport Fish as a biometrician. Allen has been a member of AFS for 22 years. He is actively involved with the Alaska Chapter of the American Statistical Association (ASA) (past Vice-President and past President), and is currently serving his second term as the SecretaryTreasurer of that organization.
Allen received a B.S. degree in Biology, majoring in aquatic studies from the Ohio State University (OSU) in 1974, an M.S. degree in Zoology, majoring in Fisheries Biology also from OSU in 1977, and completed course work and research towards a Doctorate at the University of Idaho (no degree) with an emphasis in Fisheries Biology and a minor in Applied Statistics.
Allen's research interests primarily relate to surveying human populations as they relate to fisheries management (for example, on-site creel surveys and offsite mail surveys of anglers' behavior, attitudes, and opinions). He is a member of the Human Dimensions of Recreational Fisheries Committee of the Fisheries Management Section of AFS; a member of the Survey Research Methods Section of ASA; and a member of the International Biometric Society, Western North America Region.
Allen was asked if he was interested in running for the SecretaryTreasurer's position recently by Past-President, Kate Wedemeyer. On short notice, with many questions answered, and
many questions to be resolved, Allen agreed to run for this office. His statement of intent follows:
"Kate Wedemeyer asked me to run for the office of SecretaryTreasurer. I've decided to run, primarily due to my ongoing interest in the professional activities of the Chapter and the parent AFS organization. Lately I have not been very active in local Chapter activities (although I did put together the Annual Meeting abstract booklet for the Sitka meeting in 1994), and at this time my professional and personal commitments allow me time to renew my commitment to the Chapter. Additionally, as current SecretaryTreasurer of the Alaska Chapter of the ASA, I feel comfortable in taking on the somewhat daunting challenge of the same office for the substantially larger Alaska Chapter of AFS.
The paper "Status of Pacific salmon and steelhead escapements in southeastern Alaska" by T. T. Baker et al. will be published in the October issue of Fisheries. This Alaska Chapter project was initiated in response to the well-publicized decline of salmon in the Pacific Northwest. In 1991, AFS published a listing of hundreds of stocks that were extinct or at risk of extinction in the western United States. How widespread is the loss of productivity and diversity in the rest of North America? To address this issue, AFS received funds from the Pew Charitable Trusts to evaluate the status of salmon and steelhead in British Columbia and Southeast Alaska.
The Alaska Chapter was responsible for the survey in Southeast Alaska. A steering committee of fisheries professionals with broad experience with salmon resources in Alaska directed the project. The Chapter contracted ADF&G to review its escapement records to assess status and trends of salmon and steelhead in the region. The Committee also sent questionnaires to fishery biologists and user groups throughout the State, seeking information on expansions, declines, and extinctions of salmon populations.
Escapements were evaluated at two levels of population structure: spawning aggregates (i.e., the estimate or index count of spawners of a species at a spawning location); and management units (i.e., the geographic areas in which fisheries are managed to achieve desired escapement goals). Of 9,296 spawning aggregates identified in the region, only 928 (10%) had sufficient data to analyze for escapement trends. Of these, 889 (96%) were stable or increasing, and 918 (99%) had low or no risk of extinction. Of 141 management units defined, 129 (92%) had sufficient data to analyze for trend; all escapements were stable or increasing.
Based on available data, the authors concluded that the status of salmon in Southeast Alaska is generally good and that productive potential is largely intact. Catches are at record levels, and escapements are largely stable or increasing. In contrast to the Pacific Northwest, there was no evidence of widespread loss of spawning aggregates; the authors received only two anecdotal reports of extinctions.
The authors also found, however, that data on actual abundance and escapement of most spawning aggregates was very limited. Only 3% of coho and chum salmon aggregates, and 1% of steelhead aggregates had sufficient data to evaluate. Escapement data for steelhead were so limited that no conclusion could be made as to the escapement trends for this species in the region. The current management monitoring system was developed to manage highly productive fisheries, not to measure resource diversity or effects of land-use policies. While it was the best available information, it may not represent status or trends of the large number of small, unmonitored spawning aggregates.
The authors had no easy solution to concerns about how well the current monitoring system can track status or diversity. Some refinements of existing escapement assessments can be made to improve the quality and scope of the data. For example, ADF&G has now increased its directed escapement surveys for both coho salmon and steelhead in the region. Indicators for a large range of sizes of spawning aggregates, including some small runs, could also be identified and routinely included in existing surveys. However, a large increase in the data routinely collected for fish populations in remote areas is unlikely given declining budgets. Thus, the existing monitoring system must be used effectively, while recognizing its limitations.
Despite the caveats on quality and quantity of the data, monitoring salmon escapement remains crucial, not only for fisheries management, but also for detecting large-scale and long-term impacts on the resource. Although the productivity of the salmon resource in Southeast Alaska appears to be largely intact, the region is affected by the same types of resource development, management choices, and environmental variability that contributed to the decline of salmon in the southern part of their range. Responses to the AFS questionnaire often noted concerns about habitat degradation and loss, particularly due to logging and urbanization. Overfishing of less-productive populations and large-scale enhancement are also potential threats. The favorable ocean conditions that contribute to the record salmon harvests of recent years will certainly change. Systematic collection and analysis of escapement data provide a baseline to help separate natural changes from the negative impacts of development and exploitation that we must identify and minimize.
The Chapter will sponsor a technical writing workshop taught by Dr. Jud Monroe next October 711 in Fairbanks at the BLM Office Kobuk conference room, 1150 University Avenue, and again on February 24-28, 1997, in Anchorage. Jud Monroe has been a technical writer for over 20 years and has taught writing workshops throughout the United States, with clients including numerous state and federal agencies. The workshop will focus on project reports and technical papers, emphasizing writing for a scientific and management audience. Topics will include organizing, formatting, data presentation, sentence building, editing, and peer reviewing. This is a hands-on workship. Bring data from the latest field season and get started on a report or paper in class.
Attendance is limited to 2530 people, so early registration is encouraged. The cost of the workshop will be $200 for AFS members and $230 for nonmembers. Please remit payment to Alaska Chapter AFS, c/o Brenda Wright at address in Chapter Officers box. You may register or obtain further information by calling Brenda at 5868811 ext. 244.
At the recent National AFS meeting in Dearborn, Michigan, a leaflet from the Canadian government containing politically partisan material was distributed with the registration packet. According to Mary Fabrizio, the program chair, an unidentified individual provided the leaflet to one of the organizers without indicating the nature of the material. Fabrizio agreed that including the leaflet was unfortunate, and this type of material should not be included as part of registration material for the Society. Paul Brouha, executive director of AFS, was also aware of this problem and agreed that the leaflet should not have been included and does not reflect any position of AFS. The Alaska Chapter will work with the parent society to clear up any misconceptions that may have arisen because of this leaflet being included with the registration packet.
Rick Konopacky, an AFS member since 1978, drowned last week in
a work-related boating accident on the Snake River. Rick operated
a consulting firm out of Meridian, Idaho, and made frequent trips
to Alaska working on habitat issues related to timber and mining.
He leaves his wife and two young daughters. The accident occurred
while Rick was working as a consultant to the Bureau of Reclamation
to survey endangered snails. An experienced aquatic biologist
and diver, and one of the few experts on endangered snails, Rick
and two others were scouting snail colonies between American Falls
Dam and Lake Walcott when their 18-foot jet boat hit a rock, upsetting
all three passengers and injuring Rick's leg. He and the others,
who were unhurt, pulled up in a shallow, rocky area, but Rick
was reportedly unable to hang on because of his injury. His body
was later found after a 16-hour search.
As of September, the Alaska Chapter had 435 members composed of 334 active, 53 life, 9 retired, and 39 student. Of these, 54 have not paid their 1996 National dues, and 103 have not paid Chapter dues. An additional 18 AFS members residing outside of Alaska (10 states) pay Chapter dues and receive the newsletter. Twentynine institutions, offices, and fisheries newsletters receive complimentary copies of the newsletter. There are 54 Chapter members who have only paid through 1995 and will be dropped from membership rolls (the Membership Chair will be contacting them).
Check your mailing label. For noninstitutional members, the fourdigit number at the right of the top line tells if you're paid up. The first two digits are National dues; the second two digits are Chapter dues. The year is the year "paid through," and was updated from National information obtained in August. Those with 9500 or 9595 will be dropped after this newsletter (we would like to keep you on the list). If the information is wrong, contact Alan Johnson.
Oncorhynchus welcomes brief letters on topics of interest to Chapter members, reserving the right to edit letters for length and clarity.
As my last opportunity to provide the membership with my perspective, I've decided to offer some of the following observations as to the future of fisheries in North America and particularly in Alaska. I was fortunate enough to attend the World Fisheries Congress at the end of August in Brisbane, Australia, and was fascinated that fisheries debates going on Down Under paralleled those going on in the Pacific Northwest. Fisheries are generally overcapitalized; subsistence users are demanding a larger portion of the fully allocated fisheries (often by large foreign capital-intensive operations); sport fishermen are in direct conflict with commercial fishermen for limited fisheries stocks; stock assessments are continually disputed by fishermen; habitat is continually being degraded; and government funding of fisheries research is declining. The brighter spot was that despite these problems, global fisheries have not been destroyed. Global production is only slightly off the all time record. The reason for this is twofold; technological development and changing markets have allowed the economic exploitation of an ever increasing number of fisheries. This has almost offset the approximately 20% of the fisheries that have been overharvested and are in decline. Because production has clearly peaked, however, current practices will most likely ensure a future decline in fish production.
The recent Sustainable Fisheries Conference in Victoria, which our Chapter helped sponsor, had the same familiar themes, despite being halfway around the world. I have found the message that Alaska is now experiencing a decade of all-time fisheries harvests with very little evidence of overfishing, a message many people around the world greeted with skepticism and disbelief. After all, most of the media message has been the devastation from the Exxon Valdez oil spill, the destruction of habitat through logging on the Tongass, chum salmon failures on the Yukon, etc. This attitude is not external to our Chapter, with many members (including myself) finding our budgets increase in inverse proportion to the public perception of the status of our fisheries. For example, some of my staff have been examining alternative employment opportunities in lake fertilization work in Idaho to rehabilitate a lake with less than 20 sockeye adults, while systems with several million in Alaska go virtually unnoticed. The research dollars expended per fish returning to the Columbia River is beginning to be an embarrassment to the profession.
Perhaps it's time to see a direct correlation between continued funding of fishery failures at high levels to the overall demise of public support for natural resource research funding. Sooner or later, politicians or industry will cut their losses and redistribute funding to those parts of the budget that will correlate with economic or quality of life improvements and align themselves with the economic or political benefits that follow.
I suggest that AFS members can lead the way in ensuring that our profession is not limited to the foretelling of doom and gloom. Solutions to problems and implementation of successful fisheries practices from one area to another need to be the future of our profession. A little optimism can go a long way to ensuring the future of our fisheries resources. This organization can help send the message that fisheries management coupled with habitat protection actually does work when it's driven by scientific principles.
I would like to thank all of you who have provided support for me and the Alaska Chapter over the past year. I will be working with the EXCOM for the next year and will continue to welcome your efforts and ideas in making AFS a partner in our efforts to continue to improve on the performance of our profession and support of the resource we've focused most of our adult lives on conserving.
Several sets of journal volumes are offered for sale to raise money for the Chapter's Scholarship Fund. These include AFS Transactions (1971 and 1974), Copeia (1971-1972), Fisheries Bulletin (1969, 1975-1978), and Limnology and Oceanography (1985-1988). These will be sold as sets, not as individual copies. Price ranges from $30 to $84. Purchaser is responsible for postage. For details, contact Louis Carufel at 452-6709, fax 455-6709, 303 C Street, Fairbanks 99701.