2014 OCAFS Annual Meeting

The Ohio Chapter of the American Fisheries Society celebrated it’s 40th anniversary with our annual meeting on February 4th.  Minutes for the meeting can be found here.  A big thank you goes to the Buckeye Student Subunit for hosting this year’s meeting in The Ohio Union at The Ohio State University. Approximately seventy members attended the meeting and were treated to a variety of excellent presentations by professionals and students from around the state. Topics included everything from managing Lake Erie fisheries to advances against the spread of bighead and silver carp.  A poster session was held concurrently with the meeting and contributed greatly to the overall discussion of aquatic research in Ohio. You can view the meeting program and abstract book for more details.

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OCAFS President Chris Winslow (center) with Kelsea Downs and Troy Farmer, winners of the best student poster and presentation, respectively.

Abstract Book

A day prior to the meeting, those who registered were treated to an exciting electrofishing workshop taught by Dr. Alan Temple from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

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Dr. Alan Temple warming the crowd up with the basics of electrofishing theory.

After the workshop, conversation carried over to the local Rooster’s for an informal social. It’s amazing how many of the world’s electrofishing problems can be solved over some good food and a few drinks!The purpose of the workshop was to introduce several components within a suggested framework for increasing electrofishing capture efficiency and precision.  Instruction included live demonstrations and use of Excel-based models by participants.  Topics included: electric waveform attributes (e.g., peak voltage, duty cycle), features of waveforms important for capture, electric field elements and mapping techniques, experimental approaches to determine effective waveforms, electrode design, development and use of power goal tables, electric field standardization, and determination of equipment operating range across water conductivity.  We were treated to a variety of live demonstrations and a good time was had by all.