Red-tree coral Primnoa spp., found throughout the Gulf of Alaska, is abundant in some offshore areas and nearshore where bays and inlets open to the ocean. In 1997, the NMFS Auke Bay Laboratory used a manned submersible to study effects of fishing gear on Primnoa in the eastern Gulf of Alaska offshore of Dixon Entrance. Primnoa has been viewed near shore, but this was the first look at it in deep water. Dives were made down to 365 m deep and observed almost 300 coral colonies ranging in size up to 4 m wide and 2 m high. Nearly all coral colonies were attached to boulders separated by expanses of unoccupied hard bottom (pebble/cobble with silty surface deposit).
Rougheye, redbanded, and shortraker rockfish were closely associated with coral, often within the coral branches, and about one-third of the coral colonies had rockfish. Rockfish may use coral as cover, territorial markers, or to capture prey. Other animals associated with Primnoa included sea stars and nudibranchs. Starfish predation was seen on all dives and on 40% of the coral.
Primnoa is removed incidentally during bottom-trawling for species such as rockfish and longlining for species such as sablefish, and a small amount of Primnoa is harvested for jewelry. Effects of removing Primnoa are unknown because we do not understand the role of Primnoa in the marine ecosystem. Considering the close association between Primnoa and rockfish, Primnoa may have an important role as essential fish habitat.
The big event of the year is going to be the 1998 joint meetings of the AFS Western Division, Alaska Chapter, North Pacific International Chapter, and the 16th Lowell Wakefield Fisheries Symposium in Anchorage on September 29-October 3. The Wakefield Symposium sessions are now established, and papers are no longer being accepted. Brenda Baxter (Sea Grant) is now forwarding any papers she receives to Bob Bilby for consideration for the AFS sessions.
Wakefield Sessions Oral and poster presentations scheduled in the Wakefield sessions are by researchers from Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Philippines, Russia, Sweden, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and United States. The program is organized into the following sessions: Physical and Environmental Effects; Species Interactions; Concepts and Tools for Management; Anthropogenic Influences; Habitat and Spatial Considerations; and Whole Ecosystem Approaches. For Wakefield session information and updates, including titles and authors of oral and poster presentations, visit the Sea Grant web site at: http://www.uaf.edu/seagrant/Conferences/symposia.html.
AFS Sessions We currently have about 16 half-day sessions for the AFS part of the meeting. Oral and poster presentations for the AFS program will be organized into the following sessions: Lake Fertilization; Influence of Spawning Anadromous Fishes on Freshwater and Terrestrial Ecosystems; Sockeye Salmon Ecology and Management; Recent Developments in Modeling Salmon Populations; Riparian Ecology and Management; Rainbow Trout in Alaska; Ecosystem Management on Commercial Forest Land; Current Topics in Marine Fisheries Assessment and Management in the North Pacific; Pink Salmon and Oil: What Have We Learned from the Exxon Valdez?; Adaptive Management for Fish Recovery and Enhancement; Applications of Mass Marking in Fisheries Management Research; and Effects of Urban Development on Fish and Their Habitat. For AFS session information and updates, visit the Chapter AFS web site at: http://www.alaska.net/~fishak/98meet.html.
Bob Bilby has asked for all abstracts no later than April 15. Abstracts need to be in a format that Brenda Baxter has provided. Contact either Bob (253-924-6557) or Brenda (address below) for an electronic copy of the format.
Registration Information
All symposium sessions will be held at the downtown Anchorage Hilton Hotel (272-7411). Guest rooms are being held for symposium participants at a special rate of $85 per night for a single or double room (plus 8% tax). Be sure to make your reservations by August 28, 1998, and mention you will be attending the AFS or Wakefield Symposium meetings to obtain the special rate. Make reservations directly with the hotel. The banquet will be Friday, October 2, in celebration of the Alaska Chapter’s 25th anniversary. Guest speaker is Clem Tillion, fisherman, ferry boat operator, entrepreneur, fisheries visionary, former Alaska State Senator, and past member and chair of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council.To register, fill out the enclosed registration form and return it with fees to Brenda Baxter, the coordinator. The registration fee covers a continental breakfast and refreshments daily; the opening reception on Wednesday, September 30; socials on September 29 and October 1; and symposium materials. Continuing education courses, banquet tickets, and proceedings of the Wakefield sessions are available at extra charge as indicated on the registration form. Students: for possible discounted fee, contact the symposium coordinator.
You are urged to register in advance so that adequate materials are available. Make checks payable to University of Alaska Sea Grant. Payment can also be made by VISA or Mastercard. If necessary to cancel your registration, fees will be refunded at 75% if notice is received by September 11, 1998.
For further information contact Brenda Baxter, Symposium Coordinator, Alaska Sea Grant College Program, PO Box 755040, Fairbanks 99775-5040; e-mail: FNBRB@uaf.edu; phone 474-6701; fax 474-6285.
The Chapter is pleased to announce the availability of a $350 award to help meet travel expenses to the 1998 Annual Meeting in Anchorage, September 29-October 3. This year, the Annual Meeting will be held jointly with the Western Division, the International Pacific Chapter, and the Lowell Wakefield Symposium. The purpose of this award is to encourage participation in the fisheries field by women and minorities.
Applicants must meet the following minimum qualifications: be female OR a member of a recognized minority group (Native American, Black, Hispanic, Asian, or Pacific Islander); reside greater than 50 miles from the meeting location OR not reside in Anchorage in an area where there is no connecting road system; and be in academic standing or in a fisheries-related occupation.
Submit a completed application to Joe Sullivan, ADF&G, 333 Raspberry Road, Anchorage 99518-1599. NOTE: Applications must be received by August 1, 1998! Application forms can be downloaded from the Chapter web site at http://www.alaska.net/~fishak or obtained by writing Joe Sullivan at the above address.
A committee will evaluate applications in five categories: 1) Reason for attending (30 pts, 15 points of which may be granted if giving a paper or poster, based on topic and quality of abstract); 2) Professionalism (20 pts) determined from personal statement, occupational or volunteer experience, and references (5 of the 20 points will be awarded for AFS membership); 3) Academic background (15 pts, 3 points for each fisheries course; degree awarded will be considered (work experience can be substituted for academic up to 5 points at discretion of the evaluation committee); 4) Contribution to fisheries (25 pts) including accomplishments, published papers, organizer of groups or participant in problem-solving workshops, initiating educational programs, etc. Some evidence of involvement or demonstrated interest in fisheries issues is a factor of this criterion; and 5) Need (35 pts)--this award is to benefit those who otherwise would not be able to attend the Annual Meeting, or would be paying their own way and can not obtain or receive full support from their agency or employer to attend the meeting. A statement by the applicant to this effect is required.
The award recipient will be announced in the summer issue of Oncorhynchus and will be introduced at the Chapter Annual Meeting. The recipient will be expected to write a brief statement about their experience at the Annual Meeting for the fall Oncorhynchus. The recipient of this award is not eligible for any other Chapter travel award in the same year. The Chapter reserves the right not to present any award.
The Continuing Education Committee is offering three short courses at the 1998 Annual Meeting in Anchorage. Below are the topics that will be covered.
If you missed your opportunity in Fisheries magazine to receive the 1998 Official Recruiters Kit, here is your second chance. Just call 301-897-8616 Ext. 206 or e-mail the AFS Membership Department (tmilburn@fisheries.org). You still have plenty of time to recruit new members to AFS and receive a chance to win a fabulous 1999 Annual Meeting package to Charlotte, North Carolina.
It’s time to plan to attend the 1998 Annual Meeting of the Alaska Chapter of the American Statistical Association in Anchorage, August 19-21. Sessions will be in the Gordon Watson Conference Room, USFWS/USGS Building, 1011 E. Tudor Road. The featured speaker will be Dr. Dallas Johnson, Kansas State University, who will also give a 3-day course from his well-known book on analysis of messy data. Our members will also present talks from their own work, and maybe there will be a fishing trip. There is no better way to gain additional statistical training, keep abreast of current research and applications, and renew acquaintances with your Alaskan colleagues. For details, contact Mark Udevitz (786-3365, e-mail: mark_udevitz@usgs.gov).
The NMFS draft Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) recommendation will be presented at the April 20-27, 1998, meeting of the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council (NPFMC) at the Anchorage Hilton Hotel. There will be an evening public meeting on the EFH recommendation on Wednesday April 22, 1998, from 7 to 9 pm, in the Hilton’s Aleutian Room. The term EFH means those waters and substrate necessary to fish for spawning, breeding, feeding, or growth to maturity. The NMFS will recommend EFH for species in five Fishery Management Plans: Bering Sea Aleutian Islands Groundfish, Gulf of Alaska Groundfish, King and Tanner Crab Fisheries in the Bering Sea Aleutian Islands, Scallop Fishery off Alaska, and Salmon Fisheries in the EEZ off the Coast of Alaska. For more information, contact Dave Witherell at the NPFMC (271-2809) or Cindy Hartmann at the NMFS Regional Office (586-7235).
Audience participation--Most of us did not join AFS as a "social club," although meetings do provide an opportunity to socialize. It is a professional organization, which means among other things, that the society supports and encourages the professional development of its members.
Continuing education is an important mechanism for professional development. Private industry uses continuing education as a tool to increase skills and productivity of its employees. Government agencies also provide and use a variety continuing education courses for their employees. Our Chapter provides a range of continuing education courses each year designed to meet the needs of fisheries professionals in Alaska.
One of the required credentials of fisheries professionals is a college degree, and usually a graduate degree. As the line from Maggie’s Farm goes: "20 years of schooling and they put you on the day shift." Well, maybe that doesn’t work for a field biologist, but even after "20 years of schooling" professional development doesn’t stop there. Continuing education is a recognized and important aspect of professional development. Job requirements change, new skills are developed, new solutions are needed--or maybe you want that "day job." Continuing education is one tool to achieve these goals. As a professional, you have the responsibility to ensure that your educational needs are met, and if you are a supervisor, that the people you supervise have the skills to do their job.
The aquatic resources in Alaska are diverse, many are rather difficult to assess, and management issues are complex. Management and research of these resources require a wide diversity of skills. Some skills may be rather specialized; others may be common knowledge. Technical writing is an example of the "common knowledge" sort. A specialized course may apply generalized tools to specialized applications, such as the application of growth models to rockfish or sea urchin populations. Technical writing and use and application of growth models are examples of two courses that have been sponsored by our Chapter. In the past, courses have tended to cover quantitative subjects--statistics, use of statistical computer programs, sampling methods--or technical writing skills. These are usually well attended; therefore, the Continuing Education Committee views them as important to members throughout the State. But is this only the perception of the Continuing Education Committee? Do these courses recognize the diversity and complexity of the resources in Alaska?
If the Chapter does not serve your needs for professional development, what then? What skills do you see as critical to the mission of your work group? And what courses do you feel could satisfy the training requirements? These are not unrealistic questions, and are ones that every professional must address either for their own development or for those they supervise. The Chapter has a cost-effective solution for, perhaps not all, but most of these requirements. But the solution requires audience participation. In the past several years, there has been little "audience participation" and the audience is not just those fortunate enough to attend one of the courses, but all of the membership.
Participation is easy. Pat Hansen (267-2441), who has and continues to produce top-of-the-line courses (and I have attended some), welcomes your suggestions. What courses do you see as important to your mission? Where would you like them held? Caveats here are that the location should be reasonably accessible to most potential students and the course must be broad enough to attract 15 to 20 individuals. And by the way, if you have or know of resources for courses (i.e., instructors, course modules, or relevant agency training programs), let Pat know about them. If you really would like to make a difference, Pat could use some assistance (i.e., committee members) to locate, organize, and administer courses. So now it’s time for audience participation.
And the winner is....Fred DeCicco. Fred’s name was picked from the several correct answers I received in a random selection supervised by a statistician. And for those who don’t already know, Fred is the Alaska expert on the chars. He also submitted an excellent summary of the character Dolly Varden who was in Barnaby Rudge, a story set in London during the Gordonian riots. The following is an excerpt from Fred’s summary from a paper by Charlotte Kipling, "The Chars in English books."
Dickens describes Dolly Varden as a beautiful and attractive girl with "the face of a pretty laughing girl, dimpled and fresh, and healthful" and had "rosy lips" and "laughing eyes brighter than diamonds." When she dressed up, she wore "a smart cherry-coloured mantle, with a hood of the same (colour) over her head, and upon the top of that hood, a little straw hat trimmed with cherry-coloured ribbons..." and " these cherry-coloured decorations brightened her eyes or vied with her lips." All these descriptions give us a picture of a girl with healthy red cheeks, red lips and sometimes red garments. She married a character "Joe," and raised a family. The two eldest children were a "red-faced little boy" and a " red faced little girl". The colour red is emphasized throughout descriptions of Dolly Varden in this book.
The new "Standard Fishing Encyclopedia" (1974) states that the char was named Dolly Varden because of Dolly's pink spotted dress. Charlotte suggests that the person who first used the name Dolly Varden for Salvelinus malma had "recently read Barnaby Rudge and considered that the brilliant colour and beauty of the fish made it worthy of the name Dolly Varden." The name is always capitalized because it is the proper name of the character in Dickens’ novel. There is another character in a Dickens novel by the name of Guppy.....In which novel does Mr Guppy appear?
The Chapter has 425 members as of March 1. There were 41 that were dropped who had only paid through 1996 and will be contacted by the Membership Chair. The membership types are 314 active, 50 life, 10 retired, 49 student, and 2 others (unknown). Of these, 92 have not paid their 1998 National dues, and 120 have not paid Chapter dues. There are an additional 21 AFS members residing outside Alaska that are paying Chapter dues and receiving the newsletter. Twenty-nine institutions, offices, and fisheries newsletters receive complimentary copies of the newsletter. Check your mailing label. The four-digit number at the right of the top line tells if you’re paid up. The first two digits are National dues; the second two are Chapter dues. The year is the year "paid through," and was updated from National AFS information in March. If you find it is incorrect, get in touch with Alan Johnson.
Oncorhynchus welcomes short feature articles for the front page that would be of interest to Chapter members. These would have a length and format with a photo like the "Rockfish and Coral" article in this issue. E-mail your suggestions to mike.murphy@noaa.gov.
National AFS is holding its first writing contest to recognize students who do an excellent job of communicating the value of fisheries science to the general public. Undergraduate and graduate students are asked to submit a 500-700-word article explaining their research or a research project in their lab or school. The article must be written in language understandable to the general public (i.e., journalistic style). The top three winners will be invited to the Annual Meeting (at winner’s expense), where their articles will be prominently displayed at the poster session. They also will be given a plaque recognizing their achievement. The winning articles will be published in Fisheries.
Articles are due no later than 15 January 1999. Please mail five copies to Marilyn Brown, AFS, 5410 Grosvenor Lane, Suite 110; Bethesda, MD 20814. For details, call Marilyn at 301-897-8616 ext. 201.
The Chapter is soliciting nominations for the Meritorious Service Award (MSA) and the Walley Noerenberg Award for Fishery Excellence. The recipients last year were Fred Everest for the MSA and John Clark for the Noerenberg Award. All members are encouraged to submit nominations for Awards for 1998 to Brenda Wright, 2770 Sherwood Ln 2A, Juneau 99801. Award presentations will occur at the 1998 Annual Meeting.
Nominations for the MSA can be based on an outstanding contribution in any area of Alaska fisheries, including research, management, education, planning, industry, and policy development. Nominations do not have to come from AFS members, nor do nominees need to be active members. The contribution or accomplishment of the candidate must be recent and not the result of many years of effort; recognition of career-long contributions is more appropriate for the Wally Noerenberg Award. The Awards Committee will select winners based on strength of the nomination and the accomplishment.
The Wally Noerenberg Award for Fishery Excellence, the highest award of the Alaska Chapter, is bestowed as a special honor on individuals who have made great and outstanding contributions to Alaska fisheries. This award was established in 1981 by resolution of the membership. The membership has also set, by resolution, specific guidelines for the Noerenberg Award Committee. Nominee contributions may include scientific research; technological development; species and habitat management; innovations in harvesting, processing, or marketing; academic and fishery education; or involvement in national and international affairs affecting Alaska fisheries. Please use the form in this issue to make your nominations.
For information on more opportunities for award nominations, such as the new AFS " Excellence in Public Outreach Award," contact Marilyn Brown (301-897-8616 Ext. 201; mbrown@fisheries.org).