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 jkopaska@fisheries.org   Updates: AFS Membership 2026 AFS Annual Meeting - Call for Sessions Upcoming continuing educat...

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 gwhelan@fisheries.org   AFS Updates: Webinar - November 19: Science Communication Through Emotionally Charged Extreme Events   December Fisheries Communi...

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.ore...

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/ David. Shiffman@gmail.com   July 2025 Fisheries article: https://academic.oup.com/fisheries/article/50/7/316/8107657  ...

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 nathaniel.lederman@wisconsin.gov   Learn...

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 Mentors...

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. L...

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, 2...

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...

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...

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 c...

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, St...

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 Ma...

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...

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 fut...

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: BlackBass2025@fishconserve.org Black Bass 2025 AFS Annual Meeting  ...

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 Janu...

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_scico...

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 - Ad...

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!   Upco...

Did you know that AFS has over 20 sections, which focus on specific interest areas within fisheries? In today's episode, we're providing an overview of the Fisheries Management Section (FMS).  Episode guest: Julie Carter President, AFS Fisheries Management Section https://fms.fisheries.org/   Upcoming webinar: Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management November 19, 2024 2 pm Eastern Time Register Now!

Each year during the Annual Meeting, AFS welcomes a new president to lead the organization. In this episode, meet 2024-2025 AFS President Miguel Garcia Bermudez! Miguel shares his background and involvement in AFS, as well as what he's looking forward to during his presidency.   Episode guest: Miguel Garcia Bermudez AFS Officers' Bios   Updates/links: Best Student Presentations Webinar Thursday, O...

Meet the 2024 Award of Excellence recipient, Francis Juanes in today's episode! Dr. Juanes talks about his current and future projects, as well as past involvement in AFS.   Guest: Francis Juanes Liber Ero Professor of Fisheries University of Victoria juanes@uvic.ca Lab website: https://juaneslab.weebly.com/ FishSounds: https://fishsounds.net/index.js   Updates from AFS: AFS photo album (2024 Annu...

Today's episode features an conversation with Sara Cannon, a member of the Respectful Meetings Working Group. Sara shares updates on the Working Group's initiatives for the Honolulu meeting, as well as tips for being a respectful visitor to the Hawaiian Islands.   Sara Cannon is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Centre for Indigenous Fisheries at the University of British Columbia.   Additio...

This episode is a preview of the soon-to-be-published second edition of Standard Methods for Sampling North American Freshwater Fishes! Join book's editors to learn about the book's development, what's new in the Second Edition, and more.   Guests: Scott Bonar Norman Mercado-Silva Kevin Pope Erin Tracy   Standard Methods description: Second updated edition of an important, popular reference book t...