Section Administration

Annual business meeting minutes - summer 2002

Annual business meeting minutes - summer 2001

Annual business meeting minutes - summer 2000

Annual business meeting minutes - summer 1999

Section Officers

AFS Bioengineering Section - Current President
Marcin Whitman, P.E.
Phone: (916) 445-3832
Address: c/o California Department of Fish and Game, 1416 Ninth Street, Sacramento, CA 95814
Email: mwhitman@dfg.ca.gov

AFS Bioengineering Section - Current President-Elect
Doug Dixon
Phone: (804) 642-1025
Address: Senior Project Manager, Electric Power Research Institute 7905 Berkeley Drive, Gloucester Point, VA 23062
Email: ddixon@epri.com

AFS Bioengineering Section - Immediat Past-President
Tim Brush
Phone: (603) 355-2333
Fax: (603) 355-2332
Address: c/o Normandeau Associates, Westmoreland, NH 03467
Email: tbrush@normandeau.com
President@afsbioengineering.org

Treasurer/Secretary
Matthew Chan
Phone: (603) 714-8423
Address: Normandeau Associates, 25 Nashua Rd., Bedford, NH 03110
Email: mchan@normandeau.com

Newsletter Editor: Steve Amaral
Alden Research Laboratory, Inc., 30 Shrewsbury Street, Holden, MA 01520
PH: (508) 829-6000 ext. 410, FAX: (508) 829-5939
Email: amaral@aldenlab.com

Current Committee Chairs

Archives	Wayne Daley
Audit	Wayne Daley
Awards	David Owsley
Certification	OPEN
Continuing Education	Alex Hoar
Membership	OPEN
Nominations	John Colt
Networking	Ken Bates/Darryl Hayes
Procedures	Ken Bates
Publications	Steve Amaral
Resolutions	OPEN
Student Activities	OPEN
Symposia	OPEN

If you are interested in knowing more about the duties of the section officers, executive committee, and the committee chairs, this manual provides a full description. Click here to view the Section Procedures Manual.

2002 Annual Business Meeting Minutes

AFS Bioengineering Section Annual Meeting

Baltimore, Maryland

August 20, 2001

President Mufeed Odeh called the meeting to order at 5:30 PM .

Those in attendance included…………… Steve Rideout, Alex Haro and Mufeed Odeh (USGS-Conte Anadromous Fish Research Center), Darryl Hayes (CH2MHill), Kent Zammit and Doug Dixon (EPRI), Ken Bates (WA Dept. of Fisheries), Chuck Coutant (ORNL), Barnaby Watten (USGS-Leetown Science Center), Russ Moursund (Battelle), Vince Mudrack (Fish & Wildlife Service), Ron Brown (Flash Technology), Judy Hillaby (Fisheries and Oceans Canada), John Veil (Argonne National Laboratory), J. Douglas Shepard (New York State DEC), Raymond Li (Texas A&M University), and Steve Amaral and Ned Taft (Alden Research Lab).

Approval of Minutes

The minutes from the 2001 BES annual meeting were approved.

Officers Reports

President's Report – Mufeed Odeh reported the following BES activities and progress for the last year:

Activity over the past year was focused on preparation and organization of the 4^th Bioengineering Symposia. Over 99 papers were presented at the meeting. Mufeed thanked the organizing committee for all their assistance in pulling the effort together.
The Section elected Darryl Hayes as President-elect. The Section did not elect a vice president in 2002, but will take that up as new business when Darryl takes over as President.
The Section’s two books, “Innovations in Fish Passage Technology” and “Advances in Fish Passage Technology” continue to sell well since their publication in 2000. These sales have generate money for the section in addition to the dues.
Mufeed thanked everyone who helped him as President over the past year.

Newsletter Editor’s Report

Steve Amaral reported that he is still developing an electronic database of members. The database currently includes name, addresses, phone and fax numbers, and email addresses. Steve has sent out a request to all members to provide him with their areas of specific experience and interests. Steve will add this information to the database and make it available on the Website when completed. The database should assist all members in finding appropriate colleagues with whom to correspond on bioengineering issues.
Steve also reported that past newsletters are available on the Bioengineering website. Future newsletters will be sent in both hardcopy and electronic form.

Reports from Committee Chairs

4^th Bioengineering Symposia Committee - Selected presentations will be submitted as papers and be part of a peer reviewed AFS book similar to that recently published from the previous Bioengineering Symposia. The deadline for submission of the papers is October 15, 2002. Papers should be submitted to Steve Amaral for initial review. Steve will arrange for peer review of all papers before publication.

Treasurer’s Report

There was no Treasurer’s Report submitted.

Installation of New Officers

Darryl Hayes was installed as the new Section President.

Awards

Darryl Hayes presented Mufeed Odeh with a Certificate of Appreciation in recognition of his service as Section President over the past year, especially thanking him for his efforts in organizing the Bioengineering Symposia.

New Business

World Fisheries Congress – A brief presentation was made on this major meeting in May 2004. AFS will be a major participant in this meeting. The Congress has limited funding to date and is seeking Section contributions. The Congress said they had had some Section contributions of up to $5000. A motion was made to support donating $1000 to the effort. The motion was passed unanimously. The World Congress said they would contact Darryl Hayes to arrange the donation of funds.

Most of the remainder of the meeting was devoted primarily to discussion of the next Bioengineering Symposium (BES IV). Previous Symposia were convened in 1988, 1993 and 1997. The next Symposium will be held in conjunction with the AFS annual meeting in Baltimore in 2002.
Doug Dixon indicated that he has solicited papers from various Russian authors and has enough responses to comprise a session at BES IV. He also stated that issues associated with fish protection at cooling water intakes (Section 316[b] of the Clean Water Act) should be the topic of a session.
Various individuals agreed to assist in organizing the Symposium. Mufeed Odeh agreed to set up a mailbox to receive abstracts for possible presentation and poster sessions. A proposal for the Symposium is due to AFS by December. An organizing Committee will be formed in the near future.

Other Business

Chuck Coutant gave a brief overview of Russian fish passage work. He indicated that a book on fish passage has been translated into English and will be available in the fall. Chuck also indicated that the book Behavioral Technologies For Fish Guidance will be published soon. He thanked EPRI for providing funding for publication costs and Ron Brown for assistance in editing.
Vince Mudrack stated that the 3rd Symposium on Culture of Fish will be held late in 2003.
There is a need for Chairpersons to head various Section Committees. Those interested should contact Steve Amaral.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:00 PM .

2001 Annual Business Meeting Minutes

AFS Bioengineering Section Annual Meeting

Phoenix , Arizona

August 20, 2001

President Ned Taft called the meeting to order at 5:40 PM . Those in attendance included Steve Rideout, Alex Haro and Mufeed Odeh (USGS-Conte Anadromous Fish Research Center), Darryl Hayes (CH2MHill), Kent Zammit and Doug Dixon (EPRI), Ken Bates (WA Dept. of Fisheries), Chuck Coutant (ORNL), Barnaby Watten (USGS-Leetown Science Center), Russ Moursund (Battelle), Vince Mudrack (Fish & Wildlife Service), Ron Brown (Flash Technology), Judy Hillaby (Fisheries and Oceans Canada), John Veil (Argonne National Laboratory), J. Douglas Shepard (New York State DEC), Raymond Li (Texas A&M University), and Steve Amaral and Ned Taft (Alden Research Lab).

The minutes from the 2000 BES annual meeting were approved.

Officers Reports

President's Report - Ned Taft reported the following BES activities and progress for the last year:

The Section has updated and enhanced its Website in an effort to improve communication. The Section Newsletter (current and recent past issues) now is included on the site. The site had almost 1000 “hits” in the past year after only several hits in the previous two years combined. Ned thanked Doug Ernst for his continuing administration of the site and to Steve Amaral for introducing a great new look to the Newsletter.
The Electric Power Research Institute is helping to enhance the visibility of the Bioengineering Section specifically and AFS generally. EPRI has donated $500 to the Section for permission to post the Section Newsletter on its Website. Ned thanked EPRI’s Doug Dixon for this great idea and generous donation.
In the January 2001 Newsletter (Vol. 18, No.1), Alex Haro wrote an excellent article titled “What is Bioengineering.” Ned sent this article (along with a plea for non-members to consider joining the Section) to all AFS Division and Chapter Newsletter Editors requesting that they include it in their next issue. Many positive responses were received. Hopefully, this initiative will result in increased membership over the coming months.
The Section elected Mufeed Odeh as President-elect and Darryl Hayes as Vice-President Elect (President for the year starting August, 2002).
Two Section books, “Innovations in Fish Passage Technology” and “Advances in Fish Passage Technology” have sold 188 and 68 copies, respectively, since their publication in 2000. These sales have generated over $1,600 for the Section! Ned thanked Mufeed Odeh for his excellent job in editing both books.
Ned thanked everyone who helped him in his efforts as President to put some new life into the Section over the past year. He pledged to continue to work with Mufeed and Darryl in the coming year to help the Section continue to be a growing, vital entity that many new members will discover as a useful tool in addressing bioengineering issues.

Newsletter Editor’s Report

Steve Amaral reported that he is developing an electronic database of members. The database currently includes name, addresses, phone and fax numbers, and email addresses. Steve has sent out a request to all members to provide him with their areas of specific experience and interests. Steve will add this information to the database and make it available on the Website when completed. The database should assist all members in finding appropriate colleagues with whom to correspond on bioengineering issues.

Reports from Committee Chairs

Fish Passage Technology Committee – Chair Ned Taft reported that the Committee completed a report entitled “Guidelines for Evaluating Fish Passage Technologies” which proposes a peer-reviewed process for bringing experimental or new technologies to a level general acceptance. The document is available on the Section’s Website.
Continuing Education Committee - Chair Mufeed Odeh reported that he organized a fish passage course that was given over the previous two days of the AFS Annual Meeting. The course was well-attended. AFS accounting department sent the section a check for $600 as revenue from the course income. Plans are now underway for the next Bioengineering Symposium (see below for further discussions on BES IV).
No other committee chairs were present to provide updates on committee activities.

Installation of New Officers

Mufeed Odeh was installed as the new Section President. Darryl Hayes was installed as Vice President.

Awards

Mufeed Odeh presented a Certificate of Appreciation to Ned Taft in recognition of his service as Section President over the past year. Mufeed presented a Certificate of Appreciation to Doug Ernst in recognition of his development and updating of the Section Website. Mufeed also expressed appreciation to Ken Bates for his maintenance of the Fishpass List.

New Business

Most of the remainder of the meeting was devoted primarily to discussion of the next Bioengineering Symposium (BES IV). Previous Symposia were convened in 1988, 1993 and 1997. The next Symposium will be held in conjunction with the AFS annual meeting in Baltimore in 2002.
Doug Dixon indicated that he has solicited papers from various Russian authors and has enough responses to comprise a session at BES IV. He also stated that issues associated with fish protection at cooling water intakes (Section 316[b] of the Clean Water Act) should be the topic of a session.
Various individuals agreed to assist in organizing the Symposium. Mufeed Odeh agreed to set up a mailbox to receive abstracts for possible presentation and poster sessions. A proposal for the Symposium is due to AFS by December. An organizing Committee will be formed in the near future.

Other Business

Chuck Coutant gave a brief overview of Russian fish passage work. He indicated that a book on fish passage has been translated into English and will be available in the fall. Chuck also indicated that the book “Behavioral Technologies For Fish Guidance” will be published soon. He thanked EPRI for providing funding for publication costs and Ron Brown for assistance in editing.
Vince Mudrack stated that the 3rd Symposium on Culture of Fish will be held late in 2003.
There is a need for Chairpersons to head various Section Committees. Those interested should contact Steve Amaral.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:00 PM .

2000 Annual Business Meeting Minutes

AFS Bioengineering Section Annual Meeting

August 20, 2000

St. Louis, Missouri

President-Elect Ned Taft opened the meeting and stated that he was filling in for President Wayne Daley who could not attend. Those in attendance included Alex Haro and Mufeed Odeh (Conte Lab), Jack Patriarche and Paul Shepherd (Grant Systems Engineering), Steve Gephard (CTDEP/Fisheries Division), Chuck Coutant (Oak Ridge National Lab), Allan Creamer (FERC), Steve Amaral and Ned Taft (Alden Research Lab) and Bob Rand (AFS).

The minutes from the 1999 BES annual meeting were approved.

Reports from Committee Chairs

Continuing education:

Chair Mufeed Odeh said he was considering whether to organize a fish passage course to be given at the AFS Annual Meeting in Phoenix next year. This lead to discussions of other symposiums that may be organized in the coming years, including an anadromous/catadromous fish symposium and a bioengineering symposium. Alex Haro discussed some of the ideas being considered for the anadromous/catadromous symposium. Meeting participants generally agreed that an anadromous/catadromous symposium should be kept separate from the next bioengineering symposium (see below for further discussions on Bioengineering Symposium III).

No other committee chairs were present to provide updates on committee activities.

Old Business

There was considerable discussion regarding the next Bioengineering Symposium (BES III), particularly when and where it would be held. Most meeting participants agreed that it should be held in conjunction with an AFS annual meeting to reduce cost and utililize organizational support provided by the parent society. The AFS annual meeting is being held in Baltimore in 2002. Baltimore is considered to be a good location that will attract participants from across the U.S. and from abroad. Having the symposium in 2002 will provide enough time for the organization and will prevent it from being pushed too far into the future (i.e., 2003). Ned Taft and Mufeed Odeh both agreed to work on a planning committee for BES III. While there is a committee already in place, it has not been active and most meeting participants believed a new committee should be formed to begin the process for organizing BES III.

Bob Rand, from AFS said that the 132 copies of Innovations in Fish Passage Technology were sold between January and July 2000, making this the No. 8 Best Seller at AFS. In addition, 32 copies of Advances in Fish Passage Technology have been sold. Mufeed Odeh was recognized for his outstanding efforts in organizing and editing these two publications.

Ned Taft reported that the BES Committee report entitled Guidelines for Evaluating Technologies for Upstream and Downstream Fish Passage has been completed and is ready for publication. It has undergone extensive peer review and is currently available on the BES Website.

The status of the Section’s web page was discussed. The following issues were the focus of these discussions:

- Providing a list of vendors and consultants for section members

- FishPass list integration with web page and possibly some type of online forum

- Newsletter distribution through the web page only, with members notified via email when a new issue is published.

Alex Haro brought up the need for the Section to prepare an article discussing bioengineering, i.e., what is it, what aspects of fishery science are involved, how it is important to fishery managers, industries, and consultants. The article could be published in Fisheries with the intent of making others aware of who we are, what we do, and why others might benefit from joining the Section.

Awards

Ned Taft presented distinguished Service awards to Mufeed Odeh and Dale Honeyfield. Mufeed was honored for his work in producing the two fish passage technology books mentioned above. Dale was recognized for his commitment and hard work in being the Section’s Newsletter Editor for the past five years.

Installation of New Officers

Ned Taft was installed as the new Section President. Ned presented his Incoming President’s report. His goals for the coming year will focus on increasing communication and membership (see BES Newsletter Vol. 17, No. 1 for more details; available on the BES Website: http://biosys.bre.orst.edu/afseng).

Steve Amaral was installed as the Section’s new Newsletter Editor. Ned Taft recognized Steve for his outstanding efforts in preparing his first newsletter.

Other Business

Ned Taft discussed the need for section registration at anytime of the year (especially some type of online registration form), not just when the annual membership forms go out. He will pursue this with AFS headquarters.

Bob Rand is part of the AFS web team, which is always looking for the latest information to put into the “What’s New” section of the Society’s web page.

The issue of affiliate BES memberships was raised and the consensus was that this is probably not a good idea because it does not encourage people to become a full member of AFS.

Expanding newsletter distribution to other professional societies (e.g., ASCE) and organizations (e.g., EPRI) was discussed as a means for attracting new members. Advertising in publications produced by other organizations was also discussed. Ned Taft will pursue this.

As a means to spur section activities and increase membership, committee chairs of committees that have been inactive over the last couple of years will be censused to determine their interest in continuing in their positions and there plans to increase activities.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:30 PM.

1999 Annual Business Meeting Minutes

AMERICAN FISHERIES SOCIETY

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA

BIOENGINEERING SECTION BUSINESS MEETING

AUGUST 31, 1999

MINUTES BY DAVE OWSLEY

Attendees: Jim Meade, Ned Taft, Dave Owsley, Marcin Whitman, Alex Haro, Steve Rideout, Steve Amaral, Ben Rinesaak, Blaine D. Ebberts, Mufeed Odeh, Tim Brush, Gus Rassam, Kristin Merriman Clarke, T.R. Gregg (Joan Harn after close due to our rescheduled time conflicting with a concurrent event)

2:25 p.m. Jim Meade called the meeting to order, started a sign up sheet, and distributed agenda.

2:27 p.m. Gus Rassam, the new AFS Executive Director, was introduced and addressed the group. Gus spoke about academic vs. technical writing and publishing, and his plans to improve AFS fiscal situation was introduced.

2:34 p.m. Introductions by each attendee - 13 people present (9 members).

2:39 p.m. Jim Meade provided minutes from the 1998 business meeting in Hartford, CT.

Dave Owsley made a motion and Mufeed Odeh seconded to accept the 1998 minutes - passed.

Jim Meade gave the presidents.

BES Survey results were reported by Jim Meade.

Treasurer Report was given by Jim Meade.

Election results were given by Jim Meade - Ned Taft if the new VP.

Doug Dixon, EPRI, will help via support of publishing.

Kristin Merriman Clarke of the AFS staff asked the Section to consider making a donation to address the Transactions backlog. Kristin suggested the Section develop an article for publication in Fisheries and we choose topics such as fish passage.

Committee Reports:

1. Ned Taft - Research Guidelines Committee.

2. Fish Passage Study Needs - group discussion.

3. Nominating - we need a Secretary/Treasurer, and of course, the next Vice President.

4. Newsletter - Dale Honeyfield retires after five years - we need a new editor.

5. Publications - Mufeed Odeh reported on fish passage publications; a book is now available in the trade show ($37).

6. Membership - we need a new membership chairman. Marcin Whitman noted that ASCE plans to start a fish pass group and our Section might make contact to enhance our membership and our networking.

7. Bioengineering Symposium III - 2001 and 2002 - Dave Owsley reported on the steering committee: conference calls, possible locations, tagging on to other meetings, etc.

Mufeed Odeh noted the Northeastern Division, AFS, plans a dam removal workshop.

Marcin noted the North-central AFS meeting will have a fish pass session.

8. Awards - Dave Owsley reported no awards for 1999.

Installations of Officers:

Jim Meade handed over the gavel to President Wayne Daley (not present) and Vice President Ned Taft, who addressed the group about new young members. The group discussed the web page and other means of communication.

New Business:

Dave Owsley made a motion to give AFS $500 to address the manuscript backlog for Transactions.

Marcin Whitman seconded.

Discussion.

Motion passed.

Ned Taft thanked Jim Meade for his service as President.

3:44 p.m. Meeting adjourned.