The 68th annual Canadian Conference for Fisheries Research (CCFFR) was held at the Westin Hotel in Ottawa, ON from January 8th-11th.
This year, Dr. Cooke and Cooke Lab members helped to organize the conference that hosted 350 fisheries researchers from across Canada. Dr. Cooke and his lab lead the way in acquiring sponsorships, organizing registration, making signage, and facilitating the A/V for presentations.
The lab would like to thank the over 40 volunteers from Carleton University and the University of Ottawa who helped make it such a successful conference!
In addition to playing a large role organizing the conference, there was a strong presence of Cooke Lab research represented at CCFFR. In total, 14 past and present Cooke Lab members participated, including 9 oral presentations, 3 poster presentations and 3 panel members.
Oral Presentations
(1) “Factors influencing recreational re-capture of upstream migrating Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) that have been previously captured and released” – Robert Lennox
(2) “Do differences in behavioural type and angling technique influence vulnerability to capture?” – Alexander Wilson
(3) “Bycatch mortality can cause extirpation in four freshwater turtle species” – Jon Midwood
(4) “Multispecies space use and movement in restored habitat in the Toronto harbour” – Andrew Rous
(5) “Individual physiological health metrics as a proxy for evaluating restoration success lessons from the coastal wetlands of the St. Lawrence River” – Taylor Ward
(6) “Action cameras: Bringing aquatic and fisheries research into view” – Daniel Struthers
(7) “Manipulation of discharge fails to improve trapping success for invasive Sea Lamprey: A behavioural explanation” – Andrew Rous
(8) “Can supplemental feeding of nest guarding Smallmouth Bass mitigate the effects of experimental cortisol elevation?” Aaron Zolderdo
(9) “Do body size and brood size influence parental care behaviours and nest success in chronically stressed male Smallmouth Bass?” Dirk Algera
Poster Presentations
(1) “Hot fish: Can fish energetics help to predict the impacts of climate change on tropical freshwater fishes?” – Dominique Lapointe
(2) “Behavioural guidance of largemouth bass using light emitting diodes” – Brittany Sullivan
(3) “The Brewer Park Pond Esocid tracking project “ – Karsten Pankhurst
Panel Discussions
A number of past and present Cooke Lab members participated in the very successful Student Success workshop that was co-moderated by Dr. Cooke. The workshop had four sessions and aimed to bring experts together to provide conference participants with insights on publishing, science communication, job searches and the science-policy interface. This session was a new addition to the CCFFR line-up but received great feedback and will be a staple in the conference in the future!
Some current and former Cooke Lab members who participated in the workshop discussions were:
Vivian Nguyen, a current PhD student in the Cooke Lab & Dr. Nick Lapointe, a former Cooke Lab member and now a National Natural Areas Conservation Science and Planning Manager with the Nature Conservancy of Canada, were invited panel members on the “Working at the science-policy interface” panel that discussed ways to integrate science into policy decisions. Alongside Vivian and Nick was Jake Rice, the Chief Scientist for Fisheries and Oceans Canada and recent recipient of the Award of Excellence from the Fisheries Management Section of the American Fisheries Society!
Dr. Michael Donaldson, a former Cooke Lab member and now the Content Development Manager for Canadian Science Publishing, was an invited panel member on the “Getting published” panel. The panel aimed to provide students with information and answer questions from the editor and publishers side of the publication process.
Next year CCFFR will be held in St. John’s, Newfoundland. We look forward to attending!
Below are some highlights from the event!
Honours student Brittany Sullivan presenting a poster on her honour’s research
Lab alumni Dr. Nick Lapointe and current Ph.D. student Vivian Nguyen discuss the challenges and opportunities associated with policy in science
Ph.D. student Andrew Rous giving an oral presentation on his work in Toronto Harbour
M.Sc. student Taylor Ward presents his honours research on physiology’s role in measuring restoration success in highly degraded areas
