Outstanding Achievement Award: Group

ANNUAL AWARD

The American Institute of Fishery Research Biologists makes two awards for outstanding achievement: an Individual and a Group Award. The Outstanding Achievement Awards are the highest recognition given by AIFRB to individuals and to research groups. The Group Achievement Award is given to research groups with outstanding records of scientific contribution to fishery science or fishery resource policy. It is the Institute’s highest award recognizing research groups that nurture excellence in fishery science. Candidates will be rated on the following criteria: sustained contribution of significant publications, exceptional service of the fishery profession, outstanding teaching or training programs, important discoveries or inventions, and significant contributions to the advancement of fishery science.

CHAIR

Dr. William Fox, World Wildlife Fund

MEMBERS

Jack Helle, NOAA Fisheries
Bill Taylor, Michigan State University

Nominations

NOMINATIONS ARE DUE JUNE 1

To nominate an individual or research group: Submit a letter fully describing how the nominee meets the criteria for the award. Include the name, address, telephone number and email address of the nominee and a short resume of the nominee. Please include your name, address, telephone number and email address so the Committee can contact you for further information if needed.

Submit nominations to:
Dr. William Fox
World Wildlife Fund US
P.O. Box 60633
San Diego, CA 92166

Or by email: Bill.Fox@WWFUS.org

Past Winners

2010

North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission (NPAFC)
NPAFC is an international fisheries treaty organization whose members are the five major salmon-producing nations around the Pacific Rim: Canada, Japan, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, and the United States. The Commission was created by the Convention for the „Conservation of Anadromous Stocks in the North Pacific Ocean”, established in 1992 and entered into force in 1993. Most notably, the new treaty prohibited directed fishing for Pacific salmon species in all international waters (high seas, beyond the 200-mile EEZs) of the North Pacific Ocean. The formation of the Commission marked the end of the large-scale Asian high seas driftnet fisheries for salmon – a huge advancement in Pacific salmon conservation. Despite the lack of financial support for research, the new Commission developed and agreed to an ambitious science plan focusing on complex ecosystem research to determine the factors affecting ocean productivity and carrying capacity of salmon. Russian government scientists led the way by pioneering the use of large pelagic research trawls to study the ocean ecology of salmon. In a relatively short time, scientists of all nations were participating in international cooperative investigations aboard each others’ vessels (both within and outside of EEZs), and were freely sharing and exchanging samples and data that have provided a wealth of new information on the ocean ecology of salmon and the productivity of their ocean habitats. The most recent centerpiece of this unprecedented cooperative effort is the NPAFC’s internationally renowned integrated ecosystem research program called BASIS (Bering-Aleutian Salmon International Survey, 2002-present).

2009

North Pacific Research Board

2008

No award

2007

No award

2006

No award

2005

No award

2004

No award

2003

Northwest Fisheries Science Center, Ecotoxicolgy Research Team

2002

The Great Lakes Fishery Commission

2000

International Pacific Halibut Commission

1999

National Fish Health Research Laboratory, USGS, Kearneyville, WV

1998

The Illinois Natural History Survey

1997

International North Pacific Fisheries Commission

1992

Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Units Center & Related Coop Units

1988

Southwest Fisheries Center, NMFS, La Jolla, CA

1986

International Pacific Halibut Commission

1985

Sport Fishing Institute

1984

Harvesting Technology Division, NMFS, Pascagoula, MS

1983

Great Lakes Sear Lamprey Control Program

1982

Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences