144th Annual Meeting of the American Fisheries Society

August 17 - 21, 2014

1)  The symposium intends to present a wide range of papers that address advances in the propagation and release of aquatic animals (e.g., game fish, non-game fish, freshwater mussels, amphibians, etc.) to support conservations and management, and highlight improvements in linkages with other disciplines such as genetics, physiology, nutrition, fisheries management, endangered species recovery and management, fish health, and population dynamics, for example.  Specific topics to be addressed will include assessment of genetic requirements when stocking for restoration purposes (e.g., such as stocking native Cutthroat Trout in small populations in Colorado), use of new genetic tools to protect native fish populations (e.g. protecting Brook Trout in North Carolina by stocking all triploid cultured trout), management of effective population size in hatchery-produced fingerlings (e.g., Guadalupe Bass in Texas), restoration of prey-fish species (e.g., bi-national efforts to restore a species of deep water Cisco to Lake Ontario), restoration successes achieved with the inclusion of hatchery stocking as a tool (e.g., Lake Sturgeon in the Great Lakes), and approaches to restoring “at risk” freshwater mussels, amphibians and non-game fish populations across the continent.  The symposium will specifically consider using locally adapted stocks as broodstock and culturing fish for restoration of locally adapted stocks.  The symposium will be of interest to aquaculturists, fisheries biologists, aquatic species at risk specialists, geneticists, resource managers, research scientists, and policy makers.  Papers that present culture methods for new species and new advancements in culture will also be considered, especially if the developments were made with multidisciplinary input.

Tentatively Committed Speakers:

Name:                                                                    Proposed title / subject:

Jesse Trushenski                        Progress on the AFS initiative: Hatcheries and Management of Aquatic Resources

Kevin Rodgers                            Use of management, hatcheries, and genetics to conserve native cutthroat trout in Colorado

Chris Barnhart                             Propagation of “At Risk” freshwater mussels for research and restoration in mid-western United States

Eleven other tentative