Tinca tales

Winding down on Thursday....

2011-09-08T12:02:00.000-07:00

Thursday is the final day of the conference and things are starting to wind down now. The trade show packed up yesterday and there are less sessions running so its easier to choose which presentations to attend.

Last night was the Grand Social - we caught the monorail from downtown Seattle to the Seattle Centre. To avoid the inevitable queues we got our tickets for the Space Needle and ascended to the observation deck, where there were stunning views all round the city, from Puget Sound, downtown Seattle, Mount Rainier and the Olympic mountains in the distance. And of course there was beer on offer....start the diet next week I think...

Downtown Seattle

Puget Sound

Space Needle

We sampled some of the excellent food on offer (Alaskan salmon, black cod, corn on the cob etc) but didn't have too much as we were going out to eat later. We joined the queue for the 'Experience Music Project' - an incredible collection of guitars, Hendrix memorabilia and even a live band on stage. There were places you could don headphones and listen to Hendrix track, and actually remix them to pick out the various instruments. There were the original Hendrix guitars on show, including the white Strat that he played at Woodstock - a rendition of the "Start Spangled Banner"....

I could have stayed there all night (and more)...but we left to dine at the Waterfront Restaurant - a fantastic location out on the pier, with a menu including Black Cod, Snow Crab legs (huge!! - if that's the legs I dread to think how big the crab is), Dungeness Crab, calamari, oysters...the lot. One of our party had a steak - which must have been about 4 inches thick.

We set off for a local blues club and arrived just in time for their last number...which was disappointing. But what an incredible number - the guitarist was amazing. The band thanked us for turning up (we were half the audience!) - we offered them $150 to do some more but two of the band had to drive to Portland Oregon that night (only a few hundred miles!)....

Wednesday - halfway there....

2011-09-07T15:26:00.000-07:00

Last night was the HTI social at the aquarium - because of the sheer numbers we were divided into three time slots, but despite this there were the usual queues to get in. The evening was sponsored by HTI (hydroacoustics) and they had a number of demonstration running. They had fish in one of the tanks which had been tagged - a small electronic tag had been put inside a food pellet and the fish had eaten it. The output from the tags were displayed on a giant computer screen.

coloured traces showing the position of the fish....

There were some interesting exhibits including a shoreline with waves generated on it, together with exhibits such as northern fur seals. There was the inevitable beer but sadly all the food had gone by the time I got in so we ended up hunting round for somewhere still serving at after 10.30. Found a late night bar/restaurant and had a pretty average, over priced salmon flatbread.

Seattle sunset...

Lesser spotted stripy weegledouferfish

My usual daily routine is to get up about 6 and go down to the lobby where there is a small coffee shop. I get a latte, a croissant and a juice before going back up to my room to eat these, write this blog, and select the days presentations. I have managed to get a $5voucher towards the cost of breakfast by declining room service - I can make my own bed despite what Les thinks.....! Presentations start at 8am so the rest of the morning is spent moving from room to room to ensure I get to see as much as possible. There is a mid morning break - yet more coffee, biscuits, muffins etc. Then another session... until lunch.

Lunch varies depending on who's around -this lunchtime I went with Ian Cowx and Ian Winfield to the Cheesecake factory -across the road from the conference centre. The trick with American eating, I have decided, is to get the smallest thing on the menu. I ordered a turkey sandwich but this also came with a large bowl of baked potato soup (tasty!). Thank goodness I asked them to hold the green salad....I accompanied this with freshly squeezed orange and it cost about $15.

Tonight is the 'Grand Social' at the Seattle Needle and space park - and afterwards we plan to go to a nearby blues club....

The conference begins....

2011-09-06T10:17:00.000-07:00

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

Paramount theatre

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

Next, Dow Constantine, executive director of the localcounty, King County, welcomed delegates. Dow has been instrumental in variouscommittees and groups working to protect and restore salmon populations in the region.He suggested that policy makers need three main qualities from fisheriesscientists – clarity in the information provided; a rigorous assessment ofrisks involved in various policy choices; and a good appraisal of the effectsof the various management options. He also highlighted conflicts betweenriparian management policies of the US Corps of Engineers (which seem to bebased on excessive removal of vegetation from waterways following lessons fromHurricane Katrina) and policies aimed at good salmon management. I can seeparallels there in the UK with the excessive vegetation removal actions of someInternal Drainage boards…..

Randall Peterman – an optimistic view of challenges facingfisheries scientists and managers. Randall suggested that fisheries sciencemust engender hope to succeed, and later spoke of what new fisheries scientistsneed – an understanding of systems ecology, knowledge of underlying physicalprocesses, communication and influencing skills, and statistics ability.

Billy Frank – native American leadership in the managementof pacific salmon. Billy speaks for the salmon on behalf of 20 tribes inwestern Washington. Billy gave animpassioned speech asking for the federal government to take action now toprotect and restore the salmon populations.

Jesse Trushenski – the ecology of fisheries education. Jessegave an interesting speech highlighting the need for new fisheries scientistsbeing ‘specialised generalists’, using examples from ecology to illustratethis. She suggested that scientists need basic core competencies, together withneed, emerging techniques. Jesse had surveyed a number of colleges andemployers, and one of the views expressed was that potential fisheries staff,in addition to intellectual ability, need practical skills such as knowing howto hitch a boat, back a trailer and even hold a hammer. She concluded byadvising new entrants to the profession to be driven, and to do whatever theycan to put themselves ahead of their peers.

A number of awards were given during the morning. The mostpoignant of these was to Fred Allendorf, a former professor at MontanaUniversity. Fred appeared on a video clip, relating how , when he first startedout in fisheries, he had known Carl Ricker (a legendary name in the fisheriesworld). When the video was recorded in the summer, Fred was suffering fromleukemia, and had passed away some two weeks later.

Sunday 4th September 2011

2011-09-06T10:03:00.001-07:00

After a morning of catching up with emails I attended themeetings of the two sections that facilitate the exchange programme with theInstitute. At both meetings I give an update on the situation over in the UK,and with the Institute. In addition to the usual business of the section(reports, officer elections), there were a number of items which are ofinterest.

Later in the day we all assembled for the welcome social inthe Grand Ballroom. With over 4000 registered attendees it was, needless tosay, busy. I met up with the much travelled Professor Ian Cowx, head of HullInternational Fisheries Institute, and also Andy Turnpenny of TurnpennyHorsfield Associates. There was a fantastic range of seafood available, aswould be expected in Seattle, including cod, mussels and oysters. During theevening I also met up with Mark Bowen, who works with Andy Turnpenny and hasgiven presentations at our conference in 2009 and more recently at our screensconference in March.

Sleepless in Seattle?

2011-09-04T10:27:00.000-07:00

Saturday 3^rd September 2011

Woke up ridiculously early and eventually got up at about 6.Took breakfast in the ‘Daily Grill’ – after some thought went for thecontinental option. After breakfast spent some time using the free wifi in thelobby before leaving the hotel at 9.

I made my way down Pike Avenue – Seattle was very quiet thisearly on a Saturday. I found Pike Place market – well known local attractionwhere there was a fish stall crammed with huge salmon (pacific), crabs, prawns,clams and oysters. The guys on the stall are adept at throwing fish around – didn’tsee that today but will go back.

After a look round the various other shops in the market(jewellery, souvenirs etc) I went down towards the waterfront. The view downhere has been somewhat spoilt by an elevated expressway built all along it. Iwalked along the waterfront to Bell pier –a huge liner, the Norwegian Star, hadjust docked and its passengers (many!!) were coming ashore to a host ofcoaches, taxis and cars. It really was huge close to, with cabins andstaterooms lined along the side. I was pleased to notice they had left someroom for lifeboats though…

Seattle

Waterfront properties on bainbridge island...dont ask how much they cost...!!

Winslow with cones

I walked back down the waterfront past the Seattle aquarium –I learned later that there is a social event here on Tuesday so will lookforward to that if I can get a ticket…at this stage I was ready for a coffee sofound the inevitable Starbucks and ordered a large Pike Place roast coffee – whichwas excellent.

One of the top attractions in Seattle is a trip toBainbridge island so despite any misgivings about going on any sort of sea basedactivity I bought a return ticket ($7.10) for the 11.25 sailing and embarkedfor the 35 minute crossing. As my last sea trip was what has become known asthe nightmare of Kangaroo island in Australia I was a bit nervous.

I needn’t have worried – the crossing was absolutelymotionless. Thinking about it, of course, it is not the open sea as it issheltered by the various islands. It was really windy and I noticed many of theAmericans wrapped up in several layers – I braved it in a T shirt cos us britsare tough….

Seattle space needle

I walked my lunch off by taking the coast trail back to theferry dock. Another perfect crossing, with some great shots of the Seattleskyline. It was now getting really hot (over 28 degrees) so decided to go backto the hotel and cool off – I climbed the Harbour Steps on the way back.

Harbour steps

We docked at Winslow and I joined the throng making theirway up the main street – which was possibly not as scenic as usual due toroadworks…Winslow consists of a single main street with various bookshops,souvenir shops and in addition, there was a market on today. I consideredgetting a sausage in a roll but decided that $6 was somewhat excessive.Instead, I walked down to the marina and took a table at Docs Marina Grill. Isat in the shade with a really nice view out into the harbour and ordered apint of Coors and a blackened salmon sandwich. Both were absolutely delicious…aswere the inevitable fries…but what is the point of gherkins?

gherkin????

how safe would you feel in this in a high wind?.....

After changing into a fresh shirt I made my way to the Conventioncentre to register for the conference. At registration I bumped into DirkMiller, president of the Fisheries management section, who came to ourPortsmouth conference last year. He invited me to drinks with the AFS Governingboard over in the Seattle Hyatt. At the drinks reception I met up with BobCurry from North Carolina and various other AFS officers I had met in previousvisits.

halibut and chips!!!

As it was about 6 we arranged to go and eat, and a largegroup of us made our way down to Pike Place market where we occupied a fewtable at the Pike – bar/restaurant. A number of pitchers of pale ale wereordered…..Being Seattle, you have to eat fish so I went for the halibut, whichcame in basket (!) with fries -it wasdelicious…Also in the Pike were several stag and hen parties -very loud! The hen party nearest to us had alist of challenges – which included (I think) – being from overseas, andspeaking with an accent – so I fitted the bill on two counts. Thankfully all Ihad to do was pose for a picture.

And that was that –another early night…..

a long way to go to get a coffee....

2011-09-03T08:19:00.000-07:00

Thursday 1^st September 2011

I took the train to Manchester airport as usual, leaving it as late as possible so I could eat at home wi’t wife and avoid havingto eat on my own at the hotel –which I hate. I booked a room at theRadisson Blu hotel on Manchester airport – it is connected to the rail stationand terminal 2 by a walkway so is really convenient.

The train wasn’t very busy and I checked in at the hotel at11 and got a good night’s sleep. My flight wasn’t until 11 and I had checked inonline so didn’t need to get up particularly early. I had the full English tostart the day off but shock!! – no fried eggs! What is going on? Feel a letterof complaint coming on…

Made a gentle stroll to the terminal, and (I thought) a quick bagdrop – but STILL had to queue to check in (so what’s the point of online???)….alsofound myself in the queue behind the entire Barrow Raiders Rugby league team –offfor a club tour in France (via Amsterdam). However, when I got to check in, Iwas able to change my crap middle seat for an aisle seat –thanks KLM!

Whilst waiting at the gate for the Amsterdam flight I kepthearing calls for the US Airways flight to Philly that I have taken in previousyears. That wasn’t an option this time as I wouldn’t have got to Seattle untillate evening.

The flight to Amsterdam was uneventful, apart from anannouncement that due to a passenger having a severe reaction to peanuts, they wouldn’tbe serving any snacks. Oh no!! I thought…how will I make it through a 1 hourflight without any food….

We landed at Schipol on time and finding the departure terminalwas easy - plenty of signs. Schipollooks to be a really good airport – clean, well organised and easy to navigate.Out of interest I tried to change my seat but none were available. At the gatewe had to go through security again, but that was quick and painless, and it wasn’tlong before we were boarding. I was pleasantly surprised when I found my seat –in the economy comfort zone – loads of leg room and as a bonus a space behindto stand up (mark row 19 on 767s down for future reference!!).

Shortly after, the food and drink started arriving (thinks –willstart diet tomorrow). A snack initially (pretzels –what is it with Americans andpretzels –is there any logic there (that’s a joke for Steely Dan fans…). Andthey kept forcing alcohol on me…red wine sir? Beer sir? –what’s a guy to do?

On the downside, this being a 767 there are no individual TVscreens (as there are on the Airbus 330 that I usually take). So we all have towatch the same film. And the ‘choice’ (sorry –selection) –was…”Arthur”. No, notthe original with Dudley Moore and John Gielgud (which had a certain comedyvalue) but the abysmal remake with Russell Brand (an outstanding example of howa total lack of any talent or originality needn’t stop a career in films andTV. From the initial sequence (featuring Brand and Luis Guzman dressed up asBatman and Robin driving a replica batmobile through New York pursued by thecops, it dire. Not a laugh. Not one. The only question was what Helen Mirrenand Geraldine James were doing in it –but I guess that big cheques compensatedfor any possible loss of credibility….

So I gave up on the film and started reading ‘Girl whoplayed with fire’ –the second in Stieg Larssens Millennium trilogy until lunchcame. Lunch was…interesting. A green salad followed by , well, I'm fairly surethere was chicken involved as the attendant said the choice was vegetarianlasagna or chicken and I obviously went chicken. There was mashed potatoinvolved (just about) but then there was…something else…which may have been vegetablein origin. Now me and veg have this sort of arrangement –mutual loathing – but thereare rules. And one of them is that I need to know what type of veg I’m dealingwith. It’s only fair after all, to know what (if at all) I am about to taste.But what was glaring out at me was unidentifiable….so I did what I normally doand left it for Les to eat – well, she wanted a present….just hope it keepsfresh in my bag….

Eventually (9.5 hours later) we landed at Seattle Tacoma andI prepared for the nightmare that is US Border control. BUT!!...not only noqueue (the queue for the US/Canada was longer!) but the border guard was politeand I was through to baggage claim in no time. And it got better –my bag wasoff within 10 minutes and I was through…

I caught the airport train to the main terminal and was metby a nice man with a placard reading ‘Dolben’ and a limo to take me to the hotel(the joys of VIP status!!). On the way we passed the Boeing factory where therewere several 787’s (Dreamliner) on view (the successor to the 747 andcompetition for the Airbus 380). Apparently the plane has just got the allclear from the FAA and will be in service soon. The driver explained thatBoeing corporate HQ used to be in Seattle but they were enticed to Chicago bythe offer of tax breaks.

He dropped me at the hotel and I checked in, got a room onthe 24^th floor, and eventually off to sleep…

and off we go.....!

2010-09-14T09:57:00.000-07:00

Early start (they all are!) to attend the Plenary session. After the usual welcome from the local AFS organiser a squad of troops brought in the colours for presentation , and the assembled took the oath.

First talk of the plenary session was our very own Ian Cowx - who gave a challenging and thought provoking talk on Fisheries and the Science imperative. Ian posed the question (amongst others) whether fisheries managers ask the right questions of scientists and do they get the information they need to take the correct management decisions.

After Ians talk the Carl R Sullivan award for Fishery Conservation was awarded to Charlton Bonham (Trout Unlimited) and Richard Roos-Collins (Natural Heritage Trust) for their work in achieving a historic agreement in the Klamath River Basin. This much dammed watercourse has been subject to many disputes (some violent) over the years over water use, but the agreement just signed will lead to the removal of four dams (hoorah!!) and water allocation to restore environmental flows – a fantastic achievement.

Later in the meeting there was a presentation by Larry Schweiger, who is President of the national Wildlife Federation. Larry gave an impassioned talk on climate change and the need for action, including some quite dramatic images of polar ice cap melts.

Fred Harris received a further award from the AFS for meritorious service – he has served the AFS in a number of offices and ways for many years , and gave (again) a typically modest acceptance speech.

It is always difficult to decide which of the many sessions to attend at the AFS but I started off (following Larry Schweitzers talk) with session on climate change. There were some interesting presentations on vulnerability assessment of fisheries ( and other biology) to climate change. The US Fish and Wildlife service are just about to publish ‘Scanning the Conservation Horizon – a practitioners guide to climate change vulnerability assessment’ –which should be worth reading. A further presentation looked at Chinook salmon and the effects of damming on the populations –but concluded that a major influence was the phenonmenon known as the Pacific Decadal Osscillation (equivalent to our North Atlantic Oscillation) – which influenced upwelling (and hence productivity, food availability) in the ocean.

American Fisheries Society conference, Pittsburgh

2010-09-13T09:47:00.001-07:00

So here we are...welcome to my blog of the 2010 AFS Conference Pittsburgh....not lost you yet?..good...read on...

Saturday 11th September

After a fairly uneventful flight (apart from a 1 hour delayed departure leading to a missed connection in Philadelphia - but sorted by US Airways staff who had already re-booked me onto the 5pm flight -a good job as immigration and customs were the usual painfully slow experience....I arrived at Pittsburgh at 7pm (although my body clock was showing midnight...), took the 'super shuttle' (along with other fisheries bods) to the hotel and checked in. The hotel is fantastic - really old and with loads of character.

Sunday 12th September

I tried to catch up with sleep on the Sunday morning, and then walked down to the conference centre to register. After registering I attended the business meeting of the Fisheries Administration Section, chaired by Bob Curry, who represented the AFS at Stratford last year. I gave a report on the situation in the UK, including highlights such as the new Marine and Coastal Access Act and lowlights including the current financial situation. One of the items on the agenda was a discussion on an AFS policy on lead shot. Recently conservation organisations including the Audobon society has put pressure on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA refused to take any action on lead shot but is considering measures affecting larger fishing weights. There is some debate within the AFS regarding a position on this – and there are other implications because some of the fisheries funding in the US comes from tackle taxes so any ban on lead sinkers would affect this.

Following on from the Administration section meeting, I attended the business meeting of the Fisheries Management Section, chaired by Ron Essig who some of you may remember from the Leeds Conference. I gave the same report to this meeting, with apologies to those who had attended both!

The meeting had was given a report on a proposed fisheries database. The section had contributed to the publication of a book , Standard Methods for sampling North American Fishes http://www.afsbooks.org/55059C (and receives healthy royalties!!) . The proposed database would allow members to download standard datasets and upload their own contributions. Such a great idea -why has it not been done already?

At the meeting Fred Harris (who some of you may remember attending the Greenwich Conference in 2001 at the time of the dreadful events over in the US) was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Society - a great honour for Fred, who gave a typically understated, self-effacing speech of thanks -and got a long standing ovation. Fred has served in a number of capacities for the AFS, and has contributed an incredible amount to the society -so is a well deserving recipient of the award.

In the evening the welcome social was a great opportunity to catch up with AFS members that I had met in Nashville last year and exchange experiences about the current economic climate and its challenges. I also caught up with Professor Ian Cowx -one of the few other brits attending -he will be giving an address to the Plenary session tomorrow.

During the evening I met Jennifer Nielsen, who works for the US Geological Survey in Anchorage, Alaska. Jennifer is a past president of the AFS, and has contributed a large number of publications to salmonid genetics and stock management. Jennifer is working on salmon genomes, and more specifically the effects of climate change. She told me of the changes that have taken place to salmon populations in the Alaska region in the last ten years, in many cases occurring through chance events such as straying. Jennifer suggested that climate change is having impacts through this mechanism even over a comparatively short (10 year!) time scale.

Friday

2009-09-04T10:04:00.000-07:00

The 'Goodbye Nashville Hello Pittsburgh' social last night was fairly low key - just a case of using up all the wine and beer....! I ended up in a sushi bar later on with Ian Cowx and others - very tasty - although having said that I made sure that everything I ate was cooked - didnt want to go down with anything the day before I fly!

So I've checked out now and am just waiting until I catch the 2pm airport shuttle. The flights both look Ok -at least they havent been cancelled.

It has been a fantastic experience, I have met so many people here and hopefully those links will continue. I am already looking forward to attending Pittsburgh next year!!

Thursday 3rd

2009-09-03T14:26:00.000-07:00

The Conference is starting to wind down now – many delegates are making their way home during the day. I attended the Inland Fisheries session first thing to listen to Ian Cowx present on the crisis in Inland fisheries. The sub title was ‘Fish are the messenger- people are the solution’ which I’m sure I’ve heard before somewhere…!

I spent the rest of the morning in the Instream Flow symposium, where there were some interesting presentations on flow assessment, water availability and habitat assessment (pHabsim).

Tonight is the ‘Goodbye Nashville Hello Pittsburgh’ social, which will probably be a lot smaller than the previous socials.

Attending the AFS Conference has been a fantastic experience - I have got so many things to take back with me, not only for the 'day job' but also for the IFM Conference. The AFS also values the exchanges and their officers - Bob Curry this year and Dirk Miller in 2010 are really looking forward to their visit. I am sure we will make them as welcome as they have made me.

Wednesday

2009-09-02T11:28:00.000-07:00

Another early start – these are becoming the norm! Breakfast with Wayne Hulbert, the first Vice President of the AFS –he is from Laramie, Wyoming and works on stream habitat restoration at the University there.

First session was on Water Scarcity in Western North America, and there were some interesting presentations on flow and salmon – adult migration, spawning and early rearing effects of flow and climate change. A paper on groundwater storage in the Mattole headwaters proposed the value of beaver dams in protecting river flows (and also coho salmon)…hmmm!

After the break I attended the Freshwater Fish ecology symposium where I particularly wanted to see a paper entitled “In search of the holy grayling”. This was about arctic grayling in Alaska, and there were some interesting survey problems including frozen rivers in May (!) and getting to survey sites by helicopter. When the rivers melted the water temperature was 1.5 degrees C and the survey team was faced with the problem of carrying out scuba surveys in such cold water –they solved this by using students….they seem to have similar problems to us in sampling grayling – and found that dry fly worked a lot better than electrofishing. They were looking for graduate volunteers to carry on the work – I nearly volunteered!!

As the Trade show was due to finish at 2pm, I took the opportunity to tour round and promote the IFM Conference – I doubt whether any of the exhibitors will make it across but suggested inserts in delegate packs – those I spoke to (including Halltech, HTI, Lotek, NMT and OMI (Didson) sounded keen). Also when I spoke to EMCO I discovered that their UK rep (Hydrosphere) was already attending.

Final session of the day was Population Dynamics. An interesting presentation by Kai Lorenzen (of Imperial College) on a population dynamics model of hatchery enhanced fisheries which may be relevant to the UK. The subsequent paper was on comparison of smolt migration and residualization between wild and stocked steelhead trout – again with some relevance to the UK.

For the evening we all (about 1200!!) embarked on coaches for the short trip to Smileys Hollow, where we were fed delicious barbequed fod , drank as much beer as we wanted and were entertained by a band. AN excellent evening and the highlight if the week in terms of activities.

Tuesday 1st September

2009-09-01T11:51:00.001-07:00

The trade show social was good – food consisted of mini burgers, and there was copious amounts of beer to be drunk. We also had the opportunity to view the submitted poster papers – there was an interesting one on triploid brook trout stocking.

After the trade show I met up with Ian Cowx, Ron Essig and Dirk Miller and we went to BB Kings Blues club. I wasn’t sure what we were getting when the band started to play – it was a bit jazzy (not my taste – jazz seems to me to be music that doesn’t know where its going, and when (if!) it gets somewhere, I think, why did you bother?). Anyway, the band soon started playing blues – the band consisted of drums, bass, trumpet, sax and lead guitar. The lead guitarist was incredible – he ended up climbing on the bar to play. A brilliant night, and I felt a bit worse for wear this morning –it must have been the buckets of beer they served….

This morning’s session was fish passage again, much of the material was reviews of previous work, but there was one paper featuring work on larval swimming and the Reynolds number. The presenter outlined that swimming in larval fish is viscosity related i.e. their movement is mostly controlled by their environment. In addition, their sight, hearing and lateral line are all poorly developed – all of which has implications for screening.

This afternoon is the AFS Business meeting, which I have a slot at to speak about the IFM and the UK. Tonight I am invited to the International Section reception, after which I think I may need an early night – as we are all off to Woody Hollow for the main social event tomorrow night and I have a feeling it may be a long night….!

Monday

2009-08-31T15:49:00.001-07:00

Early start as the Conference begins at 8 am. Breakfast in the Club lounge with view overlooking Nashville – complimentary continental breakfast. I could get used to this….

The morning session was a mixture of papers and awards. During the session I bumped into the redoubtable Professor Ian Cowx (as you do).

Lunch is not part of the arrangements here so I went for a walk and bumped into Bob Curry, Chief of the North Carolina Wildlife Commission and we went to Jacks for lunch. The barbecued pork and beans were delicious but I dread to think what I will weigh on my return.

In the afternoon there were 16 parallel sessions – after some thought I went for the one on Fish Passage. There was some really interesting stuff on upstream and downstream migration. The final paper outlined current developments in turbine design, including modified Kaplan turbines to make them more fish friendly – by reducing the gap between the blade and the turbine, and by increasing the thickness of the blade. Testing is currently planned for 2010-2011.

The trade show and poster session are now open, and tonight I’m off to the Trade show social. After that I will probably be going to BB Kings Blues club, which has been recommended as the place to go….

Busy Sunday...

2009-08-30T15:02:00.001-07:00

Woke early and went to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. My waiter was probably the most un-emotional person I’ve ever met – in fact, he may even have been a robot. How-are-you-today…..would-you-like-the-buffet….do-you-want-coffee….decided to demonstrate Britishness by making bacon butties…very nice.

Walked off the breakfast calories by another sight seeing walk around downtown Nashville – past the state capitol, war memorial and public parks. Even though it was Sunday morning, some of the honky tonk bars were open and playing music.

Returned to the hotel to prepare for my brief addresses to the two AFS meetings this afternoon – Fisheries Administration and Fisheries Management. Haven’t seen anyone I know yet – and there doesn’t seem to be a lot of attendees here –but early days. Everyone seems to carry laptops round with them under their arms and sit picking up emails.

This afternoon I was invited to speak at the Fisheries Administration section and later at the Fisheries Management Section. The latter was better attended. I gave the attendees a brief overview of fisheries issues in the UK - the Water Framework directive, salmon, legislation changes, hydropwer and the funding issues together with the uncertain political situation.

It was interesting that throughout both meetings I picked up common threads - fisheries professionals in the US have the same sort of issues as we do in the UK, which makes these exchanges all the more important to maintain. I was made very welcome at both meetings, and renewed my acquaintance with Ron Essig (who attended IFM in 2008), Dale Burkitt (2007) and Fred Harris (2001). I also met Bob Curry who will be attending Stratford.

So now I am sitting in the Bridge Bar, listening to some lovely alto saxophone playing and waiting for the Welcome social which starts in the Grand Ballroom later, and then moves on to to the Ryman Auditorium where there will be music...its a hard life....

I've always wanted to visit Detroit...part 2

2009-08-29T15:44:00.000-07:00

I was woken up at 6am by some plonker ringing my mobile...couldnt get back to sleep (probably a good thing) so got up, showered and went into airport - special entrance from hotel with its own security check etc. Purchased toiletries and change of clothes. Checked out of hotel, checked flight gate and went for delicious breakfast of texas french toast nearby. Flight was on time, and half full, good flight and we arrived on time at 10.40 local.

I was met by Chuck Coutant of the AFS - I had rung him yesterday to let him know what had happened and my revised schedule. One question remained...where was my case? Went to US Airways office -no one there but the case had arrived (miracle!). Found helpful US Airways person who told me the bag had arrived last night (!!) at midnight -so there was a flight!!

Chuck drove me to the hotel, where I registered with the Conference and checked in to the hotel. I had been booked into a club class suite on the 24th floor (which was nice as they say on the Fast show)...special access in the lift...wow. And what a stunning view from my room...pictures to follow!

Unpacking provided another unpleasant suprise....the case had been open in one corner and some of my clothes were soaking....perhaps the bag had been left out in the rain on the runway?

As the conference doesn't start until Monday, took the afternoon to stroll round Nashville. What a fantastic place...bars everywhere., all with live bands playing. Got backto the hotel to find a mini demonstration outside - pro and anti health care reform, etc - apparently there is a big democratic meeting on here today....

I've always wanted to visit Detroit-part 1

2009-08-29T10:57:00.000-07:00

The flight from Manchester to Philadelphia was long and uneventful. The in flight movies ranged from Monsters Inc (Ok, had to have a look as Billy Crystal was one of the voices) but soon got bored. First film I watched was…er…Watchmen…Really good – dark, brooding and worth watching again. Tried Pink Panther 2 –a remake with Steve Martin trying to follow the great Peter Sellers…really, shouldn’t have bothered…dire. Ended up watching Star Trek (the prequel) again –and found it better second time round.

Even the lunch was, dare I say it tasty…some sort of sweet and sour chicken thing – but I was so hungry it just disappeared…I was especially delighted to see it was accompanied by broccoli…

So we landed in Philly, on time, smooth. First stop –immigration. Up to now I thought the person requirement for a US Border Guard was sociopath/miserable/depressed. To my surprise the chap who saw me was actually pleasant…bit spooky being called by my first name by a complete stranger but I suppose they do that for a reason…

And so through to baggage claim (I naively thought the bag would magically be routed through to the onward flight…wrong. So I waited to collect…and waited. About to give up when I spotted the case – it was off the belt and stood opposite me (who did that?). Starting to worry now as less than 1 hour t flight and Philly is a BIG airport.

I’ll explain now before things get complicated. There are 6 terminals at Philly, A through to F. I arrived at A and my Nashville flight was departing from F. You can walk/get the moving walkway between A,B,C,D and E but there is a shuttle bus to get you from A to F (i.e. it’s a LONG way…). So I got the shuttle to terminal F. Made my way to the gate…no plane in sight.

When it got to departure time they announced that the flight was cancelled due to the wrong sort of rain on the runway or something…actually it was a hurricane moving through further south…we were told to go to ‘special services’ to get re-booked. Cue rush for queue….waited in line for a while then US Airways person told all of us for Nashville to go BACK to the gate to get our re-booked tickets…whoopee! Waited while list read out, my name not there (along with a few US so it wasn’t an anti Brit thing…). We were told to go back to special services…cue rush (queue rush?)…this time US Airways person handed out phone number to ring to get re booked…did so (thinking of cost!)..eventually got through and helpful US airways person eventually (after 25 minutes…ouch!) said she had re booked me on a Delta airways flight to Detroit (!!) which connected with a Nashville flight at 9pm…told me to go to terminal A (Delta terminal)….got so far then she said to go back as needed US Airways to print out boarding cards….found helpful person who wrote the flight numbers down…Delta 3236 to Detroit…feeling good now…

Off to Terminal A because…that’s where Delta flies from isn’t it?
So I took the shuttle to terminal A, went to see Delta person…but she sent me to US Airways to print out the boarding card. But they sent me back..a few times bouncing between the two until I found a US Airways person who printed out my ticket ref….for NW Airlines…but it was due to leave from…Terminal E. So I walked from A to E (yes, through B, C,AND D…I now know Philly airport very well….

Got to E (slightly perspiring given that the flight was due to leave in 30 minutes)…Delta 3236 was listed but no gate. There was a NW flight from gate E4. To cut a long story short, eventually made it to E4 and presented my voucher…blank looks. Persisted and the lass put the magic number into the computer and hey!!!I was on!!

Relax, I thought, downhill from here…how wrong can you be? When we taxied out to take off, the pilot informed us that there were 20 (yes 20 planes-and I counted them!) ahead of us in the queue…eventually took off at 7.40..for a flight of 1 hour 10….I could make the connection!

It seemed to take ages to get down to land at Detroit, and then to taxi but sprinted off the plane at 5 to 9 to find…the gate was closed!! The plane was still there…but the doors were locked. Burst into tears. No I didn’t because I am a MAN and we don’t do that sort of thing….

Off to Delta where a nice person re booked me onto the 10.00 am departure for Nashville…so made my way to airport hotel and booked in ($99 plus taxes). Fantastic room, huge bed, massive TV…and great shower for which gave many thanks…Feeling more human later, went to hotel bar where the lovely Donna poured me wine and made me chicken Panini. And so to bed, after setting 4 alarms to make sure jetlag didn’t stop me!

1 day to go!

2009-08-27T03:57:00.001-07:00

Last day at work today...have managed to check in online for flight tomorrow thus securing window seat...flying on Airbus 333. Am staying at hotel on airport tonight - avoids stress of delayed arrival for flight and also avoids need for 5am start!!!

More when I arrive...

Start here...

2009-08-24T01:54:00.000-07:00

Hi there...!
For the un-initiated, this blog may well appear very fish related....being written by someone who has worked in the fisheries field for over 30 years now (man and boy!). Fishing began as a diversion from O level revision, became a passion, and then a career with fish. Starting out after leaving polytechnic running a coarse fish rearing unit, widening to encompass all aspects of fisheries science, culminating in current policy role.

The motivation behind starting this blog is to put some thoughts down when I visit Nashville later this week as a guest of the American Fisheries Society - I will try to make entries each day (well , its an ambition anyway!) to give a flavour of what its like to be at the AFS conference and also in Nashville....

More later when I get there!