Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Outcomes are pending. Some examples of key activities and progress are highlighted below. OUTPUTS: Project research activities have resulted in the production of graduate student and postdoctoral fellows positions, undergraduate research internships, scientific presentations, and publications in peer reviewed journals and books.

Large amounts of quatitative and qualitative observations and data have been collected and collated for projects related to New York and Great Lakes community's capacity for Ecosystem Based Management (sub-project 6) and the management of lake whitefish in the Great Lakes under different climate change scenarious (sub-project 7). Statistical models have also been generated to help predict variations in lake whitefish production in different management units of Michigan's Great Lakes waters.

ACTIVITIES:

A major accomplishment of this group was the successful organization and completion of a day-long research symposium at the 2012 American Fisheries Society meeting prior to the NC1189 research team annual meeting. An overview of the symposium is included in the appendix of the attached meeting minutes. Highlights include: The development of a collaboration on symposium planning with a group of scientists studying VHS in the Great Lakes (a virus threatening local fish health) and resulted in various discussions regarding the future of associated management actions in the region.

Additionally, the NC1189 project has garnered the interest of scientists from other regions and universities who subsequently attended our recent annual research team meeting this past August. Specifically, individuals from the Northeast AES region are now potential collaborators on the project, and some have already become official participants.

One NC1189 project collaborator, Dr. Connor Bailey, has also been engaged with wetlands restoration in Louisiana. He recently completed two years of work with the Special Engineering and Science Team working for the National Wildlife Federation, the National Audubon Society, and the Environmental Defense Fund on issues of wetlands restoration in Louisiana. This outcome is related to the focus on fisheries habitat in the NC1189 project's first objective. Dr. Bailey also served as co-PI on a project funded by the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium (A Unified Approach for Analyzing Socioeconomic Impacts from Meteorological, Technological, and Economic Shocks in Coastal Alabama and Mississippi), a project combining sociologists, economists and biologists. $250,000, 2011-2013. This project has fisheries-related applications, and is linked to NC1189 Objectives 3 and 4.

MILESTONES: *Sub-project 4 (INTRINSIC AND EXTRINSIC INFLUENCES ON FISH GROWTH RATES: A CASE EXAMPLE USING YELLOW PERCH) continues to work towards their first milestone - Identify and request participation from potential partners, and identify potential funding sources. While it did not result in an award, a recent pre-proposal was submitted to NSF's Division of Biology (Population and Community Ecology): Wuellner, M., B. Graeb, and K. Bertrand. Prevalence and Persistence of Stunted Populations and the Effects of Directional Selection. *Sub-project 6 (COMMUNITY CAPACITY FOR ECOSYSTEM-BASED MANAGEMENT IN NEW YORK'S GREAT LAKES AND MARINE COASTAL AREAS) has continued to make progress toward its first several milestones. This work is evidenced by the numerous presentations given by graduate students in the past year, such as: Biedron, Ingrid. Presentation Title: Social Influences on Adoption of Ecosystem-based Fisheries Management In Marine Systems: Potential Relevance for Great Lakes Fisheries. AFS Annual meeting; St. Paul, MN. August 20-23, 2012. Biedron, I. Fishery Management Councils: Decision-making, Communication, and Social Factors Associated with Ecosystem-based Fisheries Management. New England Fishery Management Council Meeting; Newport, RI. November 17, 2011; Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council Meeting; Williamsburg, VA. December 15, 2011. Simon, Carrie. Interpretation and Adoption of Ecosystem-Based Management by State Agencies and Organizations in New York State. AFS Annual meeting; St. Paul, MN. August 20-23, 2012. Simon, Carrie. Institutional dimensions of Ecosystem-based Management Among New York Ocean and Great Lakes Ecosystem Conservation Council Agencies. Oikos Young Scholars Organizations Academy 2012. *Sub-project 7 (PRODUCTION DYNAMICS, GOVERNANCE, AND SUSTAINABILITY OF FISHERIES RESOURCES) has successfully achieved its first milestone (to assess the status of fisheries and climate change research in the Great Lakes), and is making progress on the remaining milestones, including achievement of manuscript preparation.

Bailey, Conner. 2012. Addictive Behavior and Faustian Bargains. Pp. 124-125 in, Allen Furr and Jay Lamar (eds.), Auburn Speaks: The Oil Spill of 2010. Auburn, AL: Office of the Vice President for Research, Auburn University. Bailey, Conner, Shirley Laska and Robert Gramling. 2012. Pp. 24-27 in Restoration and Communities. Answering 10 Fundamental Questions about the Mississippi River Delta. A Report by the Mississippi River Delta Science and Engineering Special Team. Baton Rouge, LA: National Audubon Society, Environmental Defense Fund, and the National Wildlife Federation. 36 p. Lynch, A.J., E. Varela-Acevedo, W.W. Taylor. 2012. Decision-Support Tool for a Changing Climate: Application to Inland Fisheries Management. Journal of Fisheries Management and Ecology. Pracheil, B.M., L.A. Powell, G.E. Mestl, and M.A. Pegg. 2012. Movement and survival of paddlefish on a range-wide scale: how movement and time-scale can influence migratory fish management outcomes. Fisheries 37:449-457. Steffensen, K.D., L.A. Powell, and M.A. Pegg. 2012. Using mark-recapture to estimate population size of pallid sturgeon in the upper channelized Missouri River. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 32:159-166.