Draft 2, 26 July 2011
Minutes of the 44th Annual General Meeting
University of Bournemouth, Bournemouth, 20 July 2011
Present
Honorary Officers: Gordon Copp (Treasurer), Brian Eddy (Secretary). Council members, Guests of Council and Advisors to Council: John Craig (Journal of Fish Biology); Rudy Gozlan, Rob Britton (Bournemouth Symposium) and about 25 members of the Society. The Agenda was adopted and Gordon Copp took the chair.
1.Apologies for absence
Vladimir Kovac, Joanna Grabowska, Maria Collares-Pereira, Tara Marshall, Francis Neat, Holly Shiels, Ian McCarthy, Ingrid Ahnesjö, Felicity Huntingford (President).
- Minutes of the 43rd Annual General Meeting
The minutes were available on the web pages for a month before the meeting and paper copies were available at the meeting.
3. Adoption of the minutes Adoption was proposed by John Craig, seconded by Gordon Copp and accepted by the meeting.
4. Matters arising
There were no matters arising.
5. President’s report
Because of ill health, Felicity Huntingford was unable to attend the meeting and the acting chairman, Gordon Copp presented the President’s report
Welcome to the 44th Annual General Meeting of the Fisheries Society of the British Isles and apologies for not being able to be here in person.
The reports to be presented by the Honorary Secretary, the Honorary Treasurer and the Editor in Chief of our Journal of Fish Biology will bring you up to date on the main activities and achievements of the Society over the past year. I would like to tell you briefly about some other things that we have been doing that may not be covered in these reports.
In more or less chronological order, as a result of its scrutiny of what the FSBI already does and what else we might be doing, at its December meeting Council agreed to a proposal from Ian McCarthy to initiate a programme of internships. These are to provide funding for undergraduates to work in fisheries institutions and universities over the summer to gain work experience. Ian has worked very hard to set this up and we have 6 internships in place for this summer. This is an excellent development and I would like to thank Ian everyone else involved for setting it up and look forward to hearing how it goes.
Also arising from our discussions in December, Council decided that the FSBI should boast more about all the excellent things that we do and agreed to recruit a Publicity Officer to help us do this. I am delighted to inform you that Terry Langford has agreed to take this on for the Society, though since he will be been manning the Society’s recruitment desk, you may well know this already. Thanks to Terry for helping us in this way.
Earlier this year the Japanese Society for Fisheries Science circulated its sister societies with a request for contributions to a fund to help Japanese Universities and Institutes that were badly hit by the Tsunami. I am happy to be able to inform you that Council unanimously voted to make a contribution of £10K to this fund, though distressed at the need for it. Thanks to Gordon for skilfully navigating the complexities of this transaction. The JSFS asked me to pass on their sincere thanks to the FSBI. They will keep us informed about how the money is used and, at my request, will contact us again if there is any other help, financial or otherwise, that we might be able to give them.
Preparations for the 6th World Fisheries Congress, which the FSBI is hosting in Edinburgh in May 2011 continue apace. You can find out more about this from the poster and leaflets at the FSBI desk. Mike Kaiser and his team have put together an excellent scientific programme, Ian McCarthy has set up an exciting supplementary programme of courses for early career delegates and Kat Sloman is organising a series of events to make the congress an especially good experience for student delegates. I would like to thank everyone who is involved with organising this huge event, including the FSBI for generously bankrolling the. Again, thanks are due to Gordon for steering us through some tricky financial water here as well. Finally I would ask you for your support – please come to the Congress and please tell people about it.
You will see that FSBI Council members do a lot of work on behalf of the society, and I would like to thanks them all for this, particularly those whose term has come to an end. Thanks to Mike Kaiser for all his work as FSBI Vice-President and as Convenor of the 6th WFC International Programme Committee, carried out in the face of many other onerous commitments. I would also like to thank Maria Collares-Pereira, who has served Council on the Travel Grants Committee, in the face of a family tragedy. Thanks also to John and Hilary Craig for their untiring work on the journal. Presuming somewhat, I would also like to welcome the new office bearers and the new council member who will be voted in later on in this meeting. I would like to thank Rudy and his team for organising this symposium, which looks excellent and which I am really disappointed to miss, and Wiley-Blackwells for sponsoring the reception at the poster sessions.
The FSBI is a great society and I am honoured to have served as its President. This would have been my last AGM as Chair, so I am particularly sad to miss it. I have already thanked members of Council for all their help, but would like to end by extending special thanks to Brian Eddy, Honorary Secretary, who has kindly, patiently and efficiently steered my through the sometime complicated organisation of the society and to Gordon Copp, who has also made the job of president much easier through his efficiency and patience and who serves the Society tirelessly as a truly outstanding Honorary Treasurer. It is largely because Brian and Gordon have given me so much help that I have very much enjoyed my time as President. I am glad that my successor rather than I has the problem of replacing these almost irreplaceable people.
Felicity Huntingford
Glasgow 11/07/2011
On behalf of the Society and all present at the meeting the Chairman thanked Felicity Huntingford for substantial and distinguished Presidential services to the Society and wished her a speedy recovery.
The President of the American Fisheries Spociety was ubable to be present.
6. Honorary Secretary’s report
This report covers the period from August 2010 to July 2011.
Membership
Administration of membership is now with the Brabner’s, Liverpool and re-structuring of the membership list continues. In May 2011, there were 586 paid up members consisting of approximately 377 Full members, 184Associate members, and 25 Honorary and Honorary Life members. Approximately 75% of members reside in the United Kingdom and Europe but there are also significant numbers in North and South America, Australasia and the Far East.
Studentship Committee
Chaired by Ian McCarthy, the committee received 24 applications, 6 candidates were interviewed and 2 awards were made.. Awards were to:
Daniel Jeffries, “A genomic approach to the genetic impact of an invasive congener on a threatened native pond fish”, Hanfling & Lunt (Hull); Copp (Cefas).
Jessica Stephenson, “Sensory ecology, parasites and mate choice in guppy, Poecilia reticulate”,
Cable (Cardiff); Partridge (Bristol).
Seven students are currently funded.
The exchange student from the AFS this year is Stephen Midway University of North Carolina, Wilmington, Department of Biology & Marine Biology. Serena Wright of the FSBI will attend the AFS conference in Pittsburg in September.
The Internship Programme started this year, research placements for undergraduates for the summer. There were 7 applications and 5 placements were funded.
Research Grants Committee
Under the chairmanship of Vladimir Kovac and John Pinnegar, 46 applications were received in 2010, the 7 top-ranked were funded amounting to £35088. One application was received in 2010 for Wyn Wheeler Research Grant and Andrew Ferguson was awarded £5942 for a project on” Native genetic diversity and anthropogenic influences on Galloway brown trout (Salmo trutta)”.
Travel Grant Committee
The convener, Maria Joao Collares-Pereira, received 31 applications for the 3 rounds in 2010/11, requesting £28,340. Seventeen applications were funded and the total awarded was £15435. The 4th round, May/June 2011 is in progress
Medals
The Beverton Medal for 2011 was awarded to Professor “Monty” Priede, the director of Marlab, University of Aberdeen for an outstanding contribution to fish biology and fisheries science through his excellent and creative programme of research into remote telemetry, deep sea biology and fish population structure.
The LeCren Medal for 2011 was awarded to Dr Robert McDowall (NIWA), National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Lt, New Zealand. The award recognises his outstanding personal research career which generated more than 170 top quality books, chapters and papers, many on the taxonomy, ecology and biogeography of freshwater fishes of the Southern hemisphere, on diadromy and on its implications for fish diversity. It also recognises his contributions to historical topics as well as on anthropology, as in his 1994 paper on fish imagery in Polynesian Maori carving, showing an unusual and impressive breadth of vision. Bob’s deep commitment to fish conservation is also shown by the many authoritative, but clear and accessible booklets and leaflets that he wrote for the general public, highlighting the importance of habitat conservation for native fish species. It is hard to think of a career that better justifies the award of the FSBI’s Le Cren medal.
It was a matter of deep regret to hear of Robert McDowell’s tragic death earlier this year, before we were able to award this medal to him. The medal will be awarded posthumously to Bob’s wife Ainslie by David Le Cren in a special ceremony in Christchurch. We hope that his family, friends and colleagues will take comfort from this further evidence for the esteem in which he was and is still held. At the Symposium a poster, composed by the President, highlighted Bob’s achievements.
The FSBI medal was awarded to Ashley Ward (University of Sydney), He has carried out a research programme that is outstanding in terms of both quantity and quality on behaviour of fish and shoaling. Overall, Ashley Ward has an outstanding track record of excellent, innovative research that is already highly cited and influential in the development of his chosen field. He is clearly one of the most exciting young talents in our community and an excellent candidate for the FSBI medal.
The FSBI Newsletter will report a full account of the achievements of the Medalists.
FSBI Symposia
In 2012, the symposium will be hosted by University of East Anglia and the title is “The physiology of fish behaviour”, organised by Ian Mayer (University of Bergen).
The Society has a major role in organising the 6th World Fisheries Congress, Edinburgh in May 2012, (Felicity Huntingford, Michel Kaiser, Ian Winfield, Kath Sloman, Ian McCarthy and others).
The FSBI symposium in July 2013 is on “Deep se fish” organised by Francis Neat and David Bailey at the University of Glasgow. Topics and organisers for future Symposia are invited.
7. Honorary Treasurer’s Report
The financial state of the Society at the end of 2010 is shown in the attached Accounts. Total incoming resources were £306,925, which represents a considerable decrease from the corresponding figure for 2009 (£399,515), due in part to exchange rate variations associated with journal income. As in previous years, income was dominated by profits from the Journal of Fish Biology (about 81%), being about 27% lower than the 2009 figure (i.e. £342,967). Investment income was about 10% of total income, which corresponds to an approximate 2% decrease from the 2009 value (£31,577) – the consecutive quarterly amounts were about £4.9k, £8.1k, £7.4k and £10.5k. Membership income demonstrated a slight increase of 1.3% to 4.5% of total income.
Total expenditure was £255, 515, of which 87% (£223,219) was charitable expenditure, representing an increase of about 4.6% over the 2009 value, with management & administration costs (non-charitable) making up the remaining 13%. The increase in non-charitable expenditure was related to increases in the subsidy of members’ journal subscriptions and in newsletter/website costs. The overall realised expenditure was well below budget £33.5k below that anticipated in the budget, due to a lower than budgeted expenditure on studentships. An additional £50k loan to FSBI Conference Ltd took place in 2010.
The total value of the Society’s investment holdings on 31 December 2010 was £1,470,701, which is about £400.7k higher than the value for 2009 (£1,070,016) but includes the £300k investment of funds made during 2010. The Society’s total assets (minus current liabilities) on 31 December 2010 were £1,712,666, which represents an increase of about £152k over the value for 31 December 2009 (i.e. £1,560,632) and as such an increase on recent years. In conclusion, the balance sheet of the Society’s Accounts (here attached) shows that, at the end of 2010, the Society continued to maintain a sound financial state during that financial year.
8. Journal of Fish Biology Editors Report July 2011
There were 917 papers submitted to the Journal of Fish Biology during 2010 (832 in 2009). These comprised 866 offered for the regular issues, 26 for the Special Issue FSBI Symposium (Belfast), 8 Review Papers, and 17 for the Special Issue on The Biology of Syngnathidae.
In 2010, 307 papers (35%) were accepted for publication and 559 (65%) were rejected (this includes redirected or withdrawn by the authors).
Volumes 76 and 77 of the Journal for 2010 each consisted of 10 issues. In volume 76 there were five regular issues, three Molecular and Cell Science issues and two Special Issues. In volume 77 there were six regular issues, three Molecular and Cell Science issues and one Special Issue.
There were two Special Issues in Volume 76. The one published in January, Reproductive Physiology of Fishes, consisted ofan Editorial and 11 papers. The Guest Editor was John Leatherland. The one published in June, Conservation of Fishes consisted of an editorial and nine papers. The Guest Editor was Steve Blaber. Fishes and Climate Change was the proceedings of the Belfast Symposium and consisted of 16 papers. The Guest Editor for the Symposium was Ian Winfield.
The total number of pages published in the Journal in 2010 was 5302.
The Journal’s impact factor in 2009 (2007 and 2008 volumes) was 1.226 (1.246 in 2008). Note that the factor relates to the volumes published two years previously.
I thank all the Editorial Team, Wiley-Blackwell’s staff and our Editorial Manager advisers for their considerable efforts and excellent help and support.
John F. Craig, Editor-in-Chief. Dunscore, 1 July 2011.
Appendix.
Distribution of submissions to JFB (regular papers and brief communications only) by area of origin (corresponding author) and classification by subject.
Country / 2010 (2009)U.K. / 38 (33)
Rest of Europe / 218 (225)
Eurasia / 13 (17)
Asia / 237 (195)
Africa / 28 (29)
N. America / 132 (127)
C. & S. America / 121 (112)
Australasia / 78 (46)
Oceania / 1 (1)
Total / 866 (785)
Subject / 2010 (2009)
Physiology / 132 (86)
Behaviour / 121 (122)
Ecology / 248 (255)
Genetics / 128 (86)
Reproduction / 21 (32)
Parasitology/Disease / 23 (27)
Morphology/Histology / 68 (44)
Taxonomy / 25 (26)
Methodology / 11 (17)
Aquaculture / 19 (16)
Distribution / 31 (30)
Cell / 10 (15)
Other / 29 (29)
866 (785)
John F. Craig, Editor-in-Chief. Dunscore, 1 July 2011.
9. Election of Council Members
Felicity Huntingford and Maria Collares-Pereira retire from Council at this AGM. Council’s nominations for President for the next 4 years, Ian Winfield and Colin Adams for the vacancy on Council on were elected, proposed by Ian Cowx and seconded by Terry Donaldson.
Terry Langford accepted the invitation to advise Council on Publicity and Outreach, and Felicity Huntingford accepted the invitation to report to Council on the 6th World Fisheries Congress, 2012
Members of the Society are invited to nominate candidates for President, Vice-President and Councillor in time for the 44th AGM at Bournemouth, 2011.
10. Appointment of Auditors
J.R. Watson & Co.
Eastgate House,
11 Cheyne Walk,
Northampton
Northamptonshire
NN1 5PT
Proposed by Gordon Copp and seconded by Terry Langford.
11. Any other business
The annual meetings of the Society have been always been Symposia, a more appropriate description of the events than Conference, according to dictionary definitions read out by the Editor of the Journal of Fish Biology.
A brief report of discussions with representatives of the Canadian and Iberian Fisheries Societies appear on page 8.
As President of the AFS in 1996, William Taylor was unable to attend the FSBI Symposium then but was able to do so this year. His presence was welcome since the current President of the AFS was unable to attend.
F B Eddy Honorary Secretary, July 2011
Meeting with representatives of the Iberian Fisheries Society.
Present, Gordon Copp, Brian Eddy and six members of the group working to create the Iberian Fisheries Society. Papers expressing interest in collaboration had been presented to the April meeting of the FSBI. Their principal contact is Carlos Fernandes-Delgado, Dept Zoology, University of Cordoba. Once a viable society had been formed, the FSBI would be willing to explore links perhaps starting with a student exchange scheme, similar to that already existing with the AFS. Progress report to the FSBI Council in December.
Meeting with representatives of the Canadian Fisheries Society.
Present, Gordon Copp, Brian Eddy and two members of the Canadian group, the principal contacts Steve Cooke and Michael Fox. Papers expressing interest in collaboration had been presented to the April meeting of the FSBI. The FSBI would be willing to explore links perhaps starting with a student exchange scheme, similar to that already existing with the AFS. The Canadians will explore feasibility andreport progress to the FSBI Council in December.