The section continues to maintain a high profile on several fronts. We had a very successful trip to La Paz Mexico and several future international visits are planned. More on that later.

On the local front, the section was requested to prepare a sponsorship letter to the 4th World Fisheries Congress International Steering Committee and that has formally been added to our plan of work. The section was also requested by President Ken Beal to assist with organizing and planning for the AFS Retreat at the Baltimore Meeting. The theme of the meeting is "Devising a Strategy for AFS International Activities putting the pieces together".

These and so much more!

Read on for news on potential international interactions with colleagues abroad, planned visits to Australia, Europe, China and South Africa, announcements for international meetings, news on the annual AFS meeting, a large collection of international news feed articles, and much more.

Send me a news items from your locale or a piece of information to share with the membership. Contributions are most welcome. As always feedback (positive or negative) and suggestions will be most appreciated.

On March 27-28, 2002, the 4th World Fisheries Congress Program Committee met for the second time on the University of British Columbia Campus in Vancouver British Columbia, Canada. The committee assembled a draft program for the scientific meeting. A list of the program, sessions and confirmed speakers can be reviewed by clicking here.

Be sure to visit the new 4th World Fisheries Congress Web Site which was unveiled on May 24 2002. To receive information, announcements and updated Congress news, be sure to to fill out the "Expression of Interest" form.

The International Fisheries Section has been asked by the 4th Congress Executive Committee to prepare a letters to international contacts and AFS subunit in support of the Congress fund raising effort. Bern Megrey and Max Stocker have agreed to take on this task and the activity has formally been added to the sections plan of work.

The section believes it is very important that Congress sponsorship originate from countries beyond Canada and the U.S. as it helps validate the Congress as a truly international undertaking. Please let me know if you are aware of individuals or organizations in your region of the world who might be in the position to sponsor the Congress at various potential levels.

An AFS retreat will be held for Governing Board members at the Baltimore AFS Meeting on Friday August 16. Click here to read more.

The section reamins active donating books and journals to deserving international institutions and libraries.

If you have old journals (AFS or otherwise), old books (fish and related science), proceedings, special reports (agency reports or from any good source) that are collecting dust and are interested in donating them to some deserving international library, then please contact me. The International Fisheries Section can find them a good home.

Some interesting international meetings have been brought to our attention and we would like to share them with you. Click on the meeting link and it will take you to the meeting web site.

I'm happy to report that contributions to the newly established International Endowment Fund continue. The fund as of this writing is a bit over $5,000. Very good progress indeed, but substantially short of the level we need to achieve before the fund can start doing some real work.

I remind you again to support the raffle in Baltimore as this year 50% of the process will be allocated to the Endowment.

More information on the fund and this project can be found section web page. Please note that the International Section is looking for people to serve on a committee to develop a charter, terms of reference and selection criteria.

More information can be found on the section web page.

Items presented here were collected from internet news feeds and information portals.

Click on the article you wish to read.

What is happening in your corner of the world? Remember, this is a publication of the International Section, so international news items are of interest to the entire readership.

Send us your announcements, upcoming events, interesting international fisheries news stories, and other news related items. While they may seem trivial to you they could be of interest to a larger international audience. So send them to me and I'll get them posted on IFS Enotes.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestion please contact me at 01-206-526-4147. Or e-mail me at bern.megrey@noaa.gov.

Also see the International Fisheries Section web page at http://161.55.120.140/foci/ifs/index.html