AFS Beneath the Surface
A deep dive into the programs and people at the American Fisheries Society
Episodes
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:
2026 AFS Annual Meeting - Call for Sessions
Upcoming continuing education opportunities
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
AFS Updates:
Webinar - November 19:
Science Communication Through Emotionally Charged Extreme Events
December Fisheries Community Check In
December 16 at 1 pm ET
...
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
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
July 2025 Fisheries article:
https://academic.oup.com/fisheries/article/50/7/316/8107657
AFS Updates:
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 more about the American Fisheries S...
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 Mentorship Awards
Updates:
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. Lilyestrom J. Wesley Neal María de 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, 2025
Questions, comments, and su...
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 for the AFS elections.
Episode gu...
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 - abstract submission deadline:
Ext...
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 can positively impact ...
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, Student and Early Career Professional...
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 Management: March 19
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.
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 future podcast topics to lmaza@fisheri...
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
Additional content may be added to ...
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 January 24th
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_scicomm
Twitter: @AFS_SciComm
Bluesky: @...
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 - Additional Information
Updates:
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!
Upcoming Webinar hosted by the Fisherie...
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