Upcoming AFS symposiums
Dear Colleague,
We invite your participation in two symposia proposed for this year’s annual meeting of the American Fisheries Society (20-24 August in Tampa, FL). Both symposia will focus on the topic of management strategy evaluation and the development of robust harvest strategies. The first symposium titled Under Pressure: Defining Harvest Strategies that Account for Biological, Environmental or Anthropogenic Spatiotemporal Complexity will explore recent developments in MSE analysis. The second symposium titled Closing the loop: Stakeholder involvement in the Management Strategy Evaluation (MSE) process will be geared towards lessons learned in the development of MSEs, particularly in relation to improving the involvement of various stakeholders. The sessions will be jointly sponsored by the American Institute of Fishery Research Biologists (AIFRB) and the Marine Fisheries Section of AFS.
The first session encourages presentations relating to all aspects of MSE development (i.e., ranging from developing unique harvest control rules to improving the simulation methods used as the foundation of MSE or developing readily understandable performance metrics), and emphasis will be placed on those methods that incorporate spatial and environmental components. The second session seeks presentations on various aspects of stakeholder engagement from initial scoping to dissemination of MSE results. We welcome a variety of perspectives and ideas related to MSEs, including non-quantitative methods for developing harvest regulations. A panel discussion will be held at the close of the two symposia to discuss ways in which MSE could be improved and to highlight methods to enhance stakeholder involvement. Non-scientific stakeholders, especially, are encouraged to contact the conveners with interest in presenting or being a panel member as support may be available.
If you are interested in participating, please provide a tentative presentation title or interest in serving on the discussion panel to Sean Lucey (sean.lucey@noaa.gov) or Daniel Goethel (daniel.goethel@noaa.gov) before March 1, 2017*. Additionally, abstracts must be submitted via the meeting website (https://afsannualmeeting.fish
Please see the attached files for full symposium abstracts. If you have any questions about the symposium, please do not hesitate to ask, and feel free to forward this invitation to your colleagues. Thank you for your consideration.
Best regards,
Symposium Organizers
Sean Lucey (sean.lucey@noaa.gov), Daniel Goethel (daniel.goethel@noaa.gov), Sarah Gaichas (Sarah.gaichas@noaa.gov) Aaron Berger (aaron.berger@noaa.gov), John Walter (john.f.walter@noaa.gov), and Patrick Lynch (patrick.lynch@noaa.gov)
*Please note that all federal employees planning to attend AFS must confirm their intentions on their agency’s group travel request by the appropriate deadline (i.e. NOAA’s deadline isFebruary 15).
You can find descriptions of each of the symposia at the links below.
