AFS Beneath the Surface

Today's podcast guest is AFS Executive Director, Jeff Kopaska. Jeff provides a recap of his first year in his position with the American Fisheries Society. Join as we look back at 2025 and forward to what's coming next in 2026! Episode guest: Jeff Kopaska AFS Executive Director [email protected] Updates: AFS Membership 2026 AFS Annual Meeting - Call for Sessions Upcoming continuing education opportunities

Today's guest is Gary Whelan, 2025-2025 AFS President. Gary stopped by the podcast recent to share insights on his plan of work for the coming year and offer advice for students and early-career fisheries professionals. Episode Guest: Gary Whelan [email protected] AFS Updates: Webinar - November 19: Science Communication Through Emotionally Charged Extreme Events December Fisheries Community Check In December 16 at 1 pm ET In case you missed it - here are links to recordings of two recent online sessions! Advancing the understanding, appreciation, conservation, and management of native nongame fishes in the United States - recorded on November 12 AFS Certification Online Application Review and Q&A - recorded on November 6

This week, we're making another stop on the tour of AFS Sections, and this time it's the Marine Fisheries Section (MFS). Susan Piacenza, the current president of the Section, stopped by the podcast recently to share updates about MFS activities - and to chat about her work with sea turtles! Episode guest: Susan Piacenza Oregon State University Marine Fisheries Section President https://fwcs.oregonstate.edu/users/susie-piacenza [email protected] Marine Fisheries Section: https://mfs.fisheries.org/ AFS Updates and Links: AFS Membership - renewals and new members Upcoming online sessions include: Fisheries Community Check In - October 14 Invasive Species Database Webinar - October 28 Higher-Level Thinking online course - October 30 AFS Certification - online application overview - November 5 Fisheries Community Check In - November 6

AFS is back with a new "Beneath the Surface" episode! This time, we're highlighting 2025 Excellence in Public Outreach honoree, David Shiffman. David shares insights on social media best practices and why sharks matter! Episode guest: David Shiffman https://davidshiffmancv.com/ [email protected] July 2025 Fisheries article: https://academic.oup.com/fisheries/article/50/7/316/8107657 AFS Updates:

The AFS Sections roundup continues today with an introduction to the Invasive and Introduced Species Section! Today's guest is Nathan Lederman, the Section's current president. Join us to learn about this section's history and current projects. To learn more, join their business meeting at the AFS Annual Meeting next month! Episode guest: Nathan Lederman [email protected] Learn more about the American Fisheries Society and our upcoming Annual Meeting! Comments or suggestions? Submit via email to [email protected]

What's an ELMA? To find out more, I went to Drew Holloway and Patrick Cooney, who are both former participants in the Emerging Leaders Mentorship Awards (ELMA) program. Drew and Patrick are currently serving as the ELMA committee chairs, working to mentor the current class of ELMAs and passing on lessons to the incoming class. Episode Guests: Patrick Cooney Drew Holloway Emerging Leaders Mentorship Awards Updates: San Antonio Annual Meeting registration-the early bird deadline has been extended through July 8 July webinar- Meeting Planning: A deep dive

Today's episode features a preview of the first open access book to be published by AFS! Freshwater and Diadromous Fishes of Puerto Rico authors Gus Engman and Wes Neal recently stopped by the podcast to recap the book's development and the authors' history of freshwater research in Puerto Rico. Freshwater and Diadromous Fishes of Puerto Rico Authors: Thomas J. Kwak Augustin C. Engman Craig G. Lilyestrom J. Wesley Neal María de Lourdes Olmeda Episode guests: Gus Engman University of Tennessee Wes Neal Mississippi State University

AFS is excited to announce the launch of Fishbook - a fisheries collaborate network! In this episode, we're visiting with Beth Beard, to learn about the Fishbook project and how to join this online community. Episode guest: Beth Beard AFS Senior Communications Manager Fishbook is now online at https://fishbook.fisheries.org! Update: AFS Annual Meeting Early Bird Registration deadline: June 4, 2025 Questions, comments, and suggestions for future podcast guests: [email protected]

Have you ever wondered how the AFS Second Vice Presidential candidates are selected each year? With the AFS election completed for 2025, we thought it would be a good time to reflect back on the candidate selection process. This week's guest is Eric Fetherman, who just completed his term as the Chair of the AFS Nominating Committee. Eric helps explain the candidate recruitment and vetting process for the AFS elections. Episode guest: Eric Fetherman 2024-2025 AFS Nominating Committee Chair Colorado Parks & Wildlife Updates: Fisheries Community Check-in May 7, 3 pm Eastern Time Join the session! Webinar - Great Lakes May 13, 2 pm Eastern Time Register Now Webinar suggestion form

In this episode, San Antonio local meeting chair, Shaun Donovan, joins the podcast to preview the 2025 Annual Meeting. Learn about conference sessions and events, San Antonio travel tips, and more! Episode guest: Shaun Donovan San Antonio River Authority Local Chair, 2025 AFS Annual Meeting https://afsannualmeeting.fisheries.org/ Interview recording date: April 2, 2025 2025 AFS Annual Meeting - abstract submission deadline: Extended through April 22 2025 AFS Officer Election: April 22 is the last date to vote! All members are encouraged to vote, via emailed instructions.

On today's episode, we're talking all about the AFS Awards program! Our guests are current AFS Awards Committee chairs - Jessica Mistak and Natalie Coash. Jess and Natalie stopped by to talk about current efforts to update to the awards program and this year’s schedule for announcing the 2025 award recipients. In addition, we spent a fair amount of time talking about how AFS committee leadership can positively impact career development. Episode guests: Natalie Coash Missouri Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Unit Jessica Mistak Michigan Department of Natural Resources Updates: Annual Meeting: Abstract submission deadline: April 15 Registration is now open! Upcoming Webinar: Applied Genetics for Fisheries Management: April 16 AFS Election: Now open through April 22, 2025 - members should vote via instructions sent through email Comments or questions? Email us at [email protected]

Join us for another stop on our tour of AFS Sections! In this episode, we're featuring the Student and Early Career Professionals Subsection of the Education Section. Hadley Boehm, the current president of the Subsection, joins Beneath the Surface to chat about the Subsection's projects, as well as the benefits of mentoring and getting involved with AFS. Episode guest: Hadley Boehm President, Student and Early Career Professional Subsection https://students.fisheries.org/ Email: [email protected] Updates and Deadlines: 2025 Awards nominations deadline: April 1 Spring webinars: Applied Genetics for Fisheries Management: April 16 Annual Meeting: Abstract submission deadline: April 15 Registration is now open! AFS Election: Now open through April 22, 2025 - members should vote via instructions sent through email

Interested in fisheries history? It's time to highlight another AFS Section - the Fisheries History Section! Section President Jeff Jolley joins the podcast to share updates on how this Section is working to reestablish itself and plan for the future. Episode Guest: Jeff Jolley Updates and Deadlines: 2025 Awards nominations deadline: April 1 Spring webinars: Indigenizing Salmon Science and Management: March 19 Applied Genetics for Fisheries Management: April 16 Annual Meeting: Abstract submission deadline: April 15 Registration is now open! AFS Election: March 20 - April 22 - members will receive voting instructions via email

Part 2 of 2 in the Second Vice President Candidate series! The 2025 AFS officer election will be held March 20-April 22. AFS members will receive information via email regarding how to vote. Today on AFS Beneath the Surface, get to know Second Vice President candidate, Jeff Heindel. Jeff shares his professional background and past involvement with AFS, as well as some ideas for the future. Send questions, comments, and future podcast topics to [email protected]. Editor's note: I added a new feature this week - "chapter" markers, which should help separate the different sections of the audio file.

This episode is part one of a two-part series! The 2025 AFS officer election will be held March 20-April 22. Today on AFS Beneath the Surface, get to know Second Vice President candidate, Brent Nichols. Brent stopped by Beneath the Surface to share his background and experience, so that AFS members and voters had a chance to "meet" him via this podcast episode. Send questions, comments, and future podcast topics to [email protected].

Black Bass 2025 will be held in August in San Antonio, in conjunction with the 2025 AFS Annual Meeting. Today's episode features Dave Philipp, one of the conference chairs, who stopped by recently to share a preview of this summer's conference. Episode guest: David Philipp, Fisheries Conservation Foundation Conference inquires: [email protected] Black Bass 2025 AFS Annual Meeting Additional content may be added to this episode when more conference details become available!

What is AFS's role in policy? And honestly, what is policy anyway? To answer these questions, we're going back to the beginning of the AFS policy program and chatting with the first (but now retired!) AFS Policy Director, Tom Bigford. Episode Guest: Tom Bigford Updates: Data & Technology Section webinar January 28, 1 pm Eastern Time 2025 AFS Annual Meeting - Call for Sessions Closes January 24th

Today we're continuing our tour of AFS sections - this time we're highlighting the Science Communication Section. Join Sci Comm Section president Kamden Glade, as he shares the section's history and how to get involved! Episode Guest: Kamden Glade, Science Communication Section President Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Science Communication Section Social Media: Instagram: @afs_scicomm Twitter: @AFS_SciComm Bluesky: @afs-scicomm.bsky.social

Have you ever asked what the term development means to non-profit organizations? Is it grant writing/management, relationship management, or fundraising? (or all of the above and more?) AFS Development Manager, Jenna Hanks, is today's guest; she joins the podcast to help explain development at the American Fisheries Society. Episode guest: Jenna Hanks AFS Development Manager AFS Development - Additional Information Updates: Call for Submissions for symposia and continuing education courses for the 2025 Annual Meeting! Membership Renewals

In today's episode, we're taking a deep dive into the AFS Education Section. Join us to learn more about this Section's current and upcoming projects! Episode guest: Martin Hamel President, AFS Education Section Associate Professor, Fisheries Management & Ecology, University of Georgia https://warnell.uga.edu/directory/people/martin-hamel Updates Giving Tuesday is December 3, 2024! Upcoming Webinar hosted by the Fisheries Management Section Conservation Milestone: Apache Trout Delisting December 4th at 1:30 pm The Call for Submissions for 2025 Annual meeting symposia and continuing education courses opens on December 6th.