The conference begins....

An early start next morning to get down for the Plenary session. This had been scheduled to take place in the convention centre but the large numbers meant that it was switched to the impressive Paramount Theatre nearby. We were directed to the new venue by AFS helpers holding model fishes on sticks – which was very useful!

Paramount theatre

The plenary session opened by an invocation from 2 elders of the Muckleshoot tribe. This consisted of a prayer followed by a song , both of which were heard in perfect silence by the audience, who gave both elders an appreciative round of applause.

Next, Dow Constantine, executive director of the local county, King County, welcomed delegates. Dow has been instrumental in various committees and groups working to protect and restore salmon populations in the region. He suggested that policy makers need three main qualities from fisheries scientists – clarity in the information provided; a rigorous assessment of risks involved in various policy choices; and a good appraisal of the effects of the various management options. He also highlighted conflicts between riparian management policies of the US Corps of Engineers (which seem to be based on excessive removal of vegetation from waterways following lessons from Hurricane Katrina) and policies aimed at good salmon management. I can see parallels there in the UK with the excessive vegetation removal actions of some Internal Drainage boards…..

Randall Peterman – an optimistic view of challenges facing fisheries scientists and managers. Randall suggested that fisheries science must engender hope to succeed, and later spoke of what new fisheries scientists need – an understanding of systems ecology, knowledge of underlying physical processes, communication and influencing skills, and statistics ability.

Billy Frank – native American leadership in the management of pacific salmon. Billy speaks for the salmon on behalf of 20 tribes in western Washington.  Billy gave an impassioned speech asking for the federal government to take action now to protect and restore the salmon populations.

Jesse Trushenski – the ecology of fisheries education. Jesse gave an interesting speech highlighting the need for new fisheries scientists being ‘specialised generalists’, using examples from ecology to illustrate this. She suggested that scientists need basic core competencies, together with need, emerging techniques. Jesse had surveyed a number of colleges and employers, and one of the views expressed was that potential fisheries staff, in addition to intellectual ability, need practical skills such as knowing how to hitch a boat, back a trailer and even hold a hammer. She concluded by advising new entrants to the profession to be driven, and to do whatever they can to put themselves ahead of their peers.

A number of awards were given during the morning. The most poignant of these was to Fred Allendorf, a former professor at Montana University. Fred appeared on a video clip, relating how , when he first started out in fisheries, he had known Carl Ricker (a legendary name in the fisheries world). When the video was recorded in the summer, Fred was suffering from leukemia, and had passed away some two weeks later.