2006 SDAFS Spring Meeting
Virginia and West Virginia Chapters Co-host Successful 2006 Annual Meeting
The Winchester Holiday Inn was the site of the 2006 "Meeting of the Virginias" on March 15-17th. Eighty-four registrants (including 18 graduate and undergraduate students) participated in the three-day meeting marked by two special symposia. The meeting began on Wednesday afternoon with a half-day FAST fish modeling workshop taught by Scott Smith and Vic DiCenzo to 28 students from four states. The workshop was popular enough that two requests have already been made to take the show "on the road".
The basic program occurred on Thursday and Friday morning and featured 25 oral and six poster presentations (including nine student presentations). The program began Thursday with a "Fish Health Issues" symposium, which was followed by a "Northern Snakehead Fish Introduction" symposium; both of which had regional implications for attendees. The balance of the program was diverse and covered a variety of game fish, aquatic diversity and human dimension topics.
The Virginia Chapter business meeting was held Thursday afternoon and included the installation of new officers: John Odenkirk (VDGIF) from President to Past President, Dan Michaelson (VDGIF) from President Elect to President, and Scott Smith (VDGIF) to President Elect. Secretary (Robert Humston, VMI) and Treasurer (George Devlin, VDEQ) were unchanged. Annual award winners were Dan Downy, James Madison University (Outstanding Conservationist) and John Kauffman, VDGIF (Professional Service Award). Best student oral presentation was awarded to Carrie Peirce (Randolph Macon College) for Spawning behavior and hybridization of two darter species native to central Virginia. Scholarships ($500 each) were awarded to two deserving Robert Jenkins Undergraduate Scholarship candidates: Morgan Hyatt (Randolph Macon College) and Tomas Ivasauskas (VA Tech).
Socials were held both nights culminating in a comedic raffle event late Thursday emceed by Tom Wilcox and George Palmer.
J. Odenkirk
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Information current 11-13-06; Maintained by WebCurrents