2020 NCAFS Meeting

2020 Meeting of the NC Chapter of the American Fisheries Society


New Bern Riverfront Convention Center
New Bern, NC – February 4-6, 2020

New Bern Convention Center

New Bern Convention Center

Join us at the 2020 Meeting of the NC Chapter of the AFS in February.  Our host will be the New Bern Riverfront Convention Center, located at 203 S Front St., New Bern, NC, 28560Email NCAFS President-Elect Ben Ricks if you have questions or if you are interested in assisting with meeting execution.

Schedule And Program

  • Tue, Feb. 4th
    • 6:00 – 10:00 pm:  Shrimp Boil/Social
  • Wed, Feb. 5th
    • 8:00 – 11:30 am: Introduction to R Workshop
    • 8:00 am – 6:00 pm:  Registration/Presentations
    • 7:00 – 10:00 pm: Poster Session/Dinner/Raffle
  • Thu, Feb. 6th
    • 8:00 am – 12:30 pm: Presentations
    • 1:45 -3:00 pm: NCAFS Business Meeting/Awards

View and download meeting program.   View and download abstracts.
Click here for live responsive abstract page


Business Meeting Minutes

Thanks to Secretary/Treasurer, Kelsey Lincoln:

  • Minutes from the 2019 Chapter Business Meeting are available here.
  • Minutes from the 2020 Chapter Business Meeting are available here. This includes the financial proposal which was voted on at the meeting.

Abstracts

Abstracts accepted for oral, lightning, & poster presentations.  Topics addressing any aspect of fisheries and related aquatic sciences are welcomed, including, but not limited to, management, research, conservation, outreach and education.  Presentations will be limited to 20 minutes (including a question & answer period).

Lightning Talks

5 minute talks, 2 minute question/answer for each (PowerPoint optional), for students and professionals to present new projects or programs, results from ongoing work, emerging issues, and other research or management briefs.

Poster Presentations

Posters should contain succinct headings that organize & logically display the information. Graphics should be explicit & brief. Elaboration is best done verbally, just as if it were an oral presentation using slides. A short & legible “Introduction” and a “Summary of Conclusions” are essential. The poster display should focus on (1) Hypothesis/Objective, (2) Methods, and (3) Results/Outcomes.  Click to view/download detailed poster guidelines.

Submission deadline for all sessions: Closed.

How to submit an abstract:

  1. Complete the attached abstract submission form (click icon to download)
  2. Attach the abstract submission form to an email with the subject line “NCAFS Meeting 2020 Abstract”.
  3. Email the form to NC Program Committee Member Bryn Tracy at [email protected].

All abstracts are limited to 300 words and should include clearly stated objectives, brief methods, general results, and the basic conclusion. Abstract title should appear in bold, followed by the author name(s), and affiliation(s). Please include contact information with email and phone number. If the presenter is a student, please note this on the submission. Abstracts must be submitted using the official form (example included). Please list several keywords at the end for future search capability.

Program Committee Members:  Ben Ricks, Bryn Tracy

Judges will be scoring all presentations for awards in both the professional and student categories.


Registration

Meeting early registration is $80 for professionals who are NCAFS members, $100 for non-members, $55 for students & retirees.  Workshop registration is $25 for NCAFS members, $30 for non-members.  Please note the following reminders:

  • You may join or renew your NCAFS membership as part of registration.  If you would like to pay your dues separately, visit our online membership form here.  Both allow either electronic or mail-in submission & payment.
  • Deadline for early registration fees ended January 15th, 2020A late fee of $10 has been added to all registration costs after this date & the form has been updated to reflect the added cost.

Register or View Form Now


Continuing Education Course

Topic:  An Introduction to R for Fisheries Professionals
Instructors:  Dr. Jason Doll (Francis Marion University), Powell Wheeler, Seth Mycko, & Kyle Rachels (NCWRC)
Workshop Fee:  $25 for NCAFS members, $30 for non-members
Course Capacity:  40 people

The R Programming Language was developed by statisticians to manipulate, summarize, analyze, and visualize data and has become extremely popular in data-driven fields, such as Fisheries Science. R’s popularity surge is due to its open-source nature. Similar to other open-source projects, R is available for anyone to use and redistribute without cost and license restrictions. In addition, R has attracted a community of developers that have created thousands of free add-on packages and a community of users that help beginners learn the language. For these and many other reasons, R has displaced traditional data analysis programs such as SAS and Microsoft Excel in many fields.
Because R is a programming language, learning it is more similar to learning a foreign language than a GUI-based point-and-click program. Although the learning curve is often described as ‘long and steep’, fluency with the basic commands is worth the effort and unlocks R’s strength. The goal of this workshop is to accelerate the learning process for those interested in R. Participants will receive a basic overview of the origin of R, it’s uses, and the language. However, the primary focus will be hands-on coding as participants walk through a typical fisheries population analysis with real fisheries data. In addition, the workshop will direct participants towards internet resources for learning and provide a cheat-sheet to many basic language commands. Finally, the workshop will conclude with sage advice for the journey to R fluency!


Lodging and Reservations

Accommodations will be provided at the Bridge Pointe Hotel, 101 Howell Rd New Bern, NC, 28562, (877-283-7713).  Room rate:  state rate available for eligible participants.

New Bern, location of the 2017 NCAFS Meeting

Historic New Bern


Presentation Scoring Criteria

Presenters:  To assist you in putting together an award-winning presentation, below are the judging criteria for both professional and student papers.  You may also download a .pdf version of the scoresheet.

In a 5-point category, judges award 3 points for average quality (even though average quality may be very good), 4 for above average, and 5 for outstanding.

A. Individual Components (5 points for each)

  1. Title – Does it accurately describe the subject?
  2. Introduction – Does it provide adequate background, a historical context, and justification for the study?  Were the objectives and purpose clearly stated?
  3. Methods or Approach – Are they described with sufficient detail?

B. Content

  1. Structure and Organization (15 points) – Is there logical development and integration of the presentation?  Is the presentation comprehensible by members of the audience not engaged in that particular specialty?
  2. Originality (10 points) – How valuable is the presentation in communicating and presenting unique or innovative methods, concepts, or interpretations? How relevant and significant is it to fisheries science?
  3. Analytical Merit (10 points) – Are the analytical methods and study design or approach adequate and appropriate?
  4. Technical Merit (10 points) – Are interpretations consistent with the results or evidence presented?  Are limitations identified and evaluated?

C. Physical Presentation

  1. Delivery (15 points) – Does the presenter employ good voice quality, enthusiasm, grammar, eye contact, posture and body language, pronunciation, and articulation?
  2. Visual Aids (15 points) – Are the visual aids large enough, simple, understandable, relevant, and attractive?
  3. Timing (5 points) – Does the presenter complete the talk within the allotted time, and leave time for questions?

D. Other Considerations (5 points)

  1. Use this category to reward unique or attractive features which do not fit exactly into other criteria (e.g., judicious and effective use of humor).  It should be considered an extra and should not be awarded automatically.

E. Comments

  1. Provide a brief evaluation of your impressions of each presentation.  Comments will be used to break ties.