Registration form-Disabled until August 18th
Continuing Education Program
American Fisheries Society 142nd Annual Meeting, Twin Cities 2012
August 18th – August 19th
The Continuing Education Committee has put together a diverse suite of courses for the 2012 Annual Meeting. The courses cover a variety of topics, ranging from standardization in electrofishing, leading effective technical meetings, digital photography, and statistical concepts for fisheries scientists. When you register for the meeting, please consider taking one or more of these courses or technology workshops. All of them will help increase your professionalism, perspective, and skill set when you return to your job.
Please sign up for these offerings through
Register online (Disabled until August 18th) you need to proceed with registering for the meeting, and at Step 4, you can register and pay for JUST a CE course, and you don’t have to actually register for the Meeting. We do not have a separate CE course registration. It is part of the main registration process.
LEADERSHIP AT ALL LEVELS IN AFS
Dirk Miller, Wyoming Game and Fish Department; dirk.miller@wyo.gov
Date/Time: Sunday, 19 August, 8:00 am – 12:00 pm
Location: Crowne Plaza
Room: Governors I
Tuition: FREE!
This workshop is targeting leaders at all levels of the American Fisheries Society. The goal is to help you work effectively within the Society’s governance structure by helping you understand how things are supposed to work. Many times we’ve heard from people going out of office about the things they learned along the way. This workshop is designed to get some of that information to you before your term of office has ended. The workshop will review the structure of the Society and the programs that exist and suggest ways you can be more effective within the governance structure and within your unit (Chapter, Section, or Division). Issues to be addressed include:
- Roles and responsibilities of the volunteer leadership teams. What is the difference between the Elected Officers, the Management Committee and the Governing Board? How do they fit together to lead the Society? If you serve in one or more of those capacities what are your duties and responsibilities?
- Roles and responsibilities of the Executive Director and AFS Staff. What do they do for you as a member and volunteer leader? How can you interact effectively with them?
- AFS programs relative to unit needs. How do those programs fit with your Chapter, Section or Division and how do you fit with them?
- Effectively leading your unit. How can you lead and inspire the volunteers in your unit? What does it take to run a good meeting? How do you keep from doing everything yourself, and why should you strive to delegate?
BASIC/INTERMEDIATE GIS FOR FISHERIES BIOLOGISTS
Instructor: Joe Gerken gerkenje@ksu.edu and Landon Pierce
Date/Time: Saturday, 18 August, 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
Location: U of MN
Room: 50 Coffey Hall
Tuition: Student $125; Member $220; Non-member $250
This course will provide an overview of basic/intermediate GIS skills for fisheries biologists using ArcGIS, including use of existing data, creating your own data, and review of fundamental concepts for GIS. The lectures will provide information on data formats that can be used in a GIS, coordinate systems and projections, cartography, and online resources. Lectures are designed to facilitate responses and discussion. The hands-on exercises will primarily be self-paced with assistance from the instructors.
ADVANCED GIS FOR FISHERIES BIOLOGISTS
Instructor: Joe Gerken gerkenje@ksu.edu and Landon Pierce
Date/Time: Sunday, 19 August, 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
Location: U of MN
Room: 50 Coffey Hall
Tuition: Student $150; Member $220; Non-member $270
Building on the ‘Basic/Intermediate GIS for Fisheries Biologists’ course, this course will focus on geoprocessing, interpolation, and spatial analysis methods to aid in fisheries monitoring and research. The Lectures are designed to facilitate responses and discussion. The hands-on exercises will primarily be self-paced with assistance from the instructors. Course exercises are designed to introduce the participants to ArcGIS by guiding them through increasingly complex tasks for practical application on the job.
INTRODUCTION TO PROGRAMMING IN R FOR FISHERIES SCIENTISTS
Matt Catalano, Michigan State University; mcatalano@msu.edu
Date/Time: Saturday, 18 August, 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
Location: Crowne Plaza
Room: Governors I
Tuition: Student $100; Member $150; Non-member $200
This course will introduce the basics of program R (and using a commandline interface) drawing from examples in fisheries research. Topics will include:
- Interactive calculations
- Importing/exporting data, built-in and user-defined functions
- Graphing, and
- Statistical analyses (linear regression, t-test, randomization, ANOVA, basic nonlinear optimization.)
Program R is a powerful open-source mathematical and statistical software program gaining popularity in the fisheries and ecological sciences. Program R is a powerful open-source mathematical and statistical software program gaining popularity in the fisheries and ecological sciences. No prior experience with R or programming is required or expected.
Introduction to statistics and Sampling Design
Ken Gerow, University of Wyoming; gerow@uwyo.edu
Date/Time: Sunday, 19 August, 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
Location: Crowne Plaza
Room: Governors V
Tuition: Student $100; Member $150; Non-Member $200
Many working fisheries professionals only periodically engage in the use of statistical concepts and tools. This course will help participants refresh their knowledge of traditional statistics while also learning about contemporary statistical concepts and tools.
DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FOR AQUATIC SCIENTISTS
Jeremy Monroe, Freshwaters Illustrated; jeremy@freshwatersillustrated.org
Date/Time: Sunday, 19 August, 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
Location: Crowne Plaza; afternoon outdoors
Room: State I
Tuition: Student $75; Member $100; Non-member $150
Participants in this course will learn how to use photography as part of their communication portfolios. The course will cover the importance of photography in aquatic education, science, and outreach; digital equipment, techniques, and workflow; techniques for underwater natural-history photography; and photographic sampling and documentation for science.
HOW TO LEAD AN EFFECTIVE TECHNICAL MEETING
Jim Berkson, National Marine Fisheries Service; Jim.Berkson@NOAA.gov
Date/Time: Sunday, 19 August, 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
Location: Crowne Plaza
Room: State III
Tuition: Student $50; Member $75; Non-Member $100
This course will teach you how to be an effective technical meeting leader and is intended for all career stages. Topics include: handling difficult personalities, time budgeting, and reaching meeting objectives.
MAPPING AQUATIC HABITAT OF INLAND FRESHWATER SYSTEMS USING SIDE-SCAN SONAR
Thom Litts, Georgia Department of Natural Resources; Thom.litts@dnr.state.ga.us
Date/Time: Sunday, 19 August, 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
Location: Crowne Plaza
Room: Governors IV
Tuition: Student $100; Member $150; Non-member $200
Workbook provided. PowerPoint presentations, demonstration datasets and processing tools will be made available to all participants.
Session I: Introduction to side scan sonar and image interpretation
Session II: Mission planning and execution (capturing and working with sonar data)
Session III: Image processing in ArcGIS (practical demonstration)
Session IV: Habitat map development and applications
A need exists within the natural resource community for an inexpensive and rapid technique to map and quantify aquatic habitat features in navigable waterways. The Humminbird® Side Imaging system allows users to quickly capture high-resolution, geo-spatially referenced images of underwater habitat. Unlike more expensive side scan systems, the Humminbird® system employs a boat-mounted transducer that allows for the survey of shallow, rocky environments. We have developed a technique utilizing ArcGIS 9.x to transform Humminbird® images into georeferenced sonar image maps (SIMS.) These maps show underwater habitat in a spatial context and can be used within a GIS to map, measure and quantify features such as: rocky areas, large woody debris, and areas of fine sediment (sand/mud). The potential fisheries applications for such detailed habitat maps are numerous and widespread, and the tools and techniques to develop such maps are just now within reach natural resource professionals and their agencies/institutions.
Target audience: Natural resource professionals interested in aquatic habitat.
Background required: Basic understanding of GIS is helpful, but not required
EFFECTIVE SPEAKING WHEN THE HEAT IS ON!
Michael E. Fraidenburg, The Cooperation Company; fraid@earthlink.net
Date/Time: Sunday, 19 August, 8:00 am – 12:00 pm
Location: Crowne Plaza
Room: Governors III
Tuition: Student $25; Member $50; Non-member $75
Participants learn how to deliver their message using six speaking models that are designed to persuade. Use the techniques professional speakers use to get your audience to STOP, LOOK, and LISTEN, even if they don’t want to.
COLLABORATIVE NEGOTIATIONS
Michael E. Fraidenburg, The Cooperation Company; fraid@earthlink.net
Date/Time: Sunday, 19 August, 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Location: Crowne Plaza
Room: Governors III
Tuition: Student $25; Member $50; Non-member $75
Learn to solve your toughest bargaining challenges and preserve relationships you will need in the future. Get direct, ‘hands-on’ experience building negotiations that will work for you in the present and set the stage for healthier collaborations in the future.
NEW! SCIENTISTS’ GUIDE TO ENGAGING THE PUBLIC THROUGH AQUATIC EDUCATION EVENTS
Tom Lang, Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks and Aquatic Resources Education Association President; tom.lang@ksoutdoors.com
Steve A. Marshall; Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission; Steve.Marshall@myfwc.com
Date/Time: Saturday, 18 August, 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm; Sunday, 19 August, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Location: Crowne Plaza; Thompson Park, West Saint Paul
Room: State I
Tuition: FREE!
This course will provide participants with important skills, resources and hands-on experiences to successfully develop and run youth sport fishing programs at their facilities. This training provides a professional complement to “Kid’s Fishing Event with FiN!” In order to register for the “Kids’ Fishing Event with FiN!” portion of this course on Sunday, 19 August, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm, please visit the following website: http://afs2012.org/kids-fishing-event/.
NEW! Power-Based Standardization in Electrofishing
James Reynolds, University of Alaska Fairbanks; jbreynolds@alaska.edu
Date/Time: Sunday, 19 August, 8:00 am – 12:00 pm
Location: Crowne Plaza
Room: Governors II
Tuition: Student $25; Member $50; Non-Member $75
The recent AFS book, Standard Methods for Sampling North American Freshwater Fish, emphasizes the growing importance of sampling standardization in fisheries science and management. Standardization of electrofishing, a common sampling method, requires an understanding of electrical principles, particularly power transfer theory. This half-day course is aimed at professional fisheries personnel who use electrofishing, or supervise electrofishing, and desire to effectively standardize their operations.
The course will be presented in three 70-minute sessions with two intervening 15-minute breaks. Basic electrical principles, including power transfer, will be covered in the Session 1; elements of power-based standardization in Session 2; and development of standardized power procedures in Session 3. The course will give participants an overview of the proper approach to the standardization of electrofishing, regardless of method (e.g., boat, backpack).
Upon course completion, participants will understand basic electrical principles as applied to standardized electrofishing, know and appreciate the elements of a standardized program, and be able to demonstrate skill in constructing standard power tables based on field data. Each participant must attend all three sessions and participate in the Session 3 exercise for satisfactory course completion.
AFS Technology Workshops
VEMCO ACOUSTIC TELEMETRY TECHNOLOGY WORKSHOP
Nancy Edwards, VEMCO Division and AMIRIX Systems Inc.; afsagm.seattle@vemco.com
Date/Time: Sunday, 19 August, 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Location: Crowne Plaza
Room: Governors II
Tuition: FREE!
The development and popularity of VEMCO acoustic telemetry technology designed and produced by VEMCO has significantly increased over the last five years. This technology is currently being used by biologists worldwide to assess movement patterns, behavior, and site fidelity of fishes and invertebrates. VEMCO staff will discuss several detailed technical issues related to this passive and active acoustic technology thus providing the user with the necessary tools to use the equipment effectively.
Potential topics include:
- Understanding Single Frequency Telemetry
- Equipment Overview and Representative Deployments
- Detection Performance and Range Limits
- Vemco User Environment (VUE) Software
- VR2W Positioning System (VPS), and
- Future Product Directions.
Participants are encouraged to help us explore problems regarding deployment methods, experimental design, identification of unknown codes, data management, handling and analysis.
SOUND METRICS ARIS TECHNOLOGY WORKSHOP
Presenter: Bill Hanot, Sound Metrics Corp.; bill@soundmetrics.com
Date/Time: Sunday, 19 August, 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Location: Crowne Plaza
Room: Governors I
Tuition: FREE!
Advances in imaging sonar and software now allow more accurate assessment of fish behavior and population enumeration. This workshop will introduce participants to ARIS (Adaptive Resolution Imaging Sonar) and its applications to fisheries management, with an entirely new approach to post-processing image files for enumeration of migrating fish.