2018 Meeting of the Virginia and Virginia Tech Chapters of the American Fisheries

Society

Tuesday, February 20th through Thursday, February 22nd, 2018

The Hyatt Place at Mary Washington1241 Jefferson Davis Highway

Fredericksburg, VA 22401 540.654.3333

The Virginia and Virginia Tech Chapters thank the Sponsors for our 2018 meeting

Aquatic Biological Monitoring Services, LLCMechanicsville, VA

John Kauffman, LLC,Crozet, Virginia

2018 Meeting of the Virginia and Virginia Tech Chapters of the American Fisheries Society

Tuesday, February 20th through Thursday, February 22nd, 2018

The Hyatt Place at Mary Washington 1241 Jefferson Davis Highway

Fredericksburg, VA 22401(540) 654-3333

Registration in Hotel Lobby at Designated Times (listed below)Program at a glance

Tuesday 20 February 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM Registration for Meeting and Workshop - Hotel Lobby 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM WORKSHOP - Field Sampling Design and Statistical

Power 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM Informal Social – Hotel Ballroom

Wednesday 21 February 8 AM – 10 AM Registration for Meeting 8:00 AM – 8:10 AM Opening Remarks 8:10 AM – 10 AM Contributed Papers - Session I (student paper session) 10 AM – 10:20 AM BREAK (Registration Open in Hotel Lobby) 10:20 AM – 12:30 PM Contributed Papers - Session II (student paper session) 12:30 PM – 2 PM LUNCH (on your own) 2 PM – 3 PM Invited Speaker - Stephen Nash 3 PM – 4 PM Invited Speaker - Michael Pace 4 PM – 4:15 PM BREAK (Registration Open in Hotel Lobby) 4:15 PM – 5:30 PM Virginia Chapter AFS Business Meeting 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM Poster Session and Social – Hotel Ballroom 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM Dinner and Raffle – Hotel Ballroom

Thursday 22 February 9 AM – 10 AM Registration for Meeting 9 AM – 9:10 AM Announcements and Awards 9:10 AM – 10:20 AM Contributed Papers – Session III (no student papers) 10:20 AM – 10:40 AM BREAK 10:40 AM – 12:30 PM Contributed Papers – Session IV (no student papers) 12:30 PM – 12:40 PM Closing Remarks

Program Committee: Johnathan Harris (VA Chair), Mike Isel, Dan Goetz, Dan Wilson, Corbin Hilling

*Meeting abstracts will be posted online under the Meetings page https://units.fisheries.org/va/

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Tuesday, February 20th

11:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. Registration for Joint AFS Meeting in Hotel Lobby

TIME Hotel Meeting Room

1:00-5:00 p.m. WORKSHOP

Field Sampling Design and Statistical Power

Instructors: Aaron Bunch1, Dan Goetz1, Dr. Don Orth2

1 Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries2 Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Virginia Tech

Course Description:

The course will cover experimental design, data collection, understanding limitations of datasets, evaluating for statistical significance and power, and learning how to adjust sampling designs to either improve precision or reduce effort.  A brief introduction/refresher on stats will be given.  Followed by a walkthrough in Excel with an actual dataset to establish monitoring trends, set up population targets, and run through some Excel procedures.  A power analysis module will be given and will be hands on for all those attending.  At the end of the workshop, and time permitting, attendees will break out into small groups and work through some data sets and answer questions pertaining to what was covered in the class. 

All attendees should bring a laptop to use during the workshop.  We ask that ALL those attending to INSTALL POPTOOLS (http://poptools.org/) for Excel. This will be necessary for doing some of the walkthroughs covered in the workshop.

6:00-10:00 p.m. Informal Social – Hotel Ballroom

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Wednesday, February 21st

8:00 a.m. – 10 a.m. Registration for Joint AFS Meeting in Hotel Lobby

TIME Hotel Meeting Room8:00-8:10 a.m. Opening Remarks

Mike Isel, VA Chapter PresidentContributed Papers Session I; Moderator: Craig Roghair

8:10-8:30 a.m. Preliminary Assessment of Within-Stream Movement Patterns of Candy Darter in Virginia

K.E. McBaine – Virginia Tech – Student Paper8:30-8:50 a.m. Phenology and Habitat Use of Larval Darters in the Upper Roanoke

River Basin

E. Hallerman – Virginia Tech8:50-9:00 a.m. Age and Growth of Quillback in a Reservoir of the New River

H. Jenkins – Virginia Tech – Student Paper (Lightning)9:00-9:20 a.m. Mobile Trout Make Faster Decisions than Sedentary Ones

C. Gowan – Randolph Macon9:20-9:40 a.m. Steroid Hormone Levels as an Indicator of Personality and

Aggression in Brook Trout (Salvelinus fontinalis): A potential animal model for aggression

E. Ploppert – Randolph Macon – Student Paper9:40-10:00 a.m. Population Status and Distribution of Whitespotted Conger (Conger

myriaster) in Yellow Sea, China

M. Li – Virginia Tech – Student Paper10:00-10:20 a.m. BREAK (Registration Open in Hotel Lobby)

Contributed Papers Session II; Moderator: Maddie Johnson 10:20-10:40 a.m. Bayesian Hierarchical Modeling of Environmental and

Anthropogenic Influence on Spatiotemporal Dynamics of American Shad and River Herring in Virginia

R. Bi – Virginia Tech – Student Paper10:40-11:00 a.m. Competition and Predation: Interactions between American eels

(Anguilla rostrate) and brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) in Virginia mountain streams

J. Studio – James Madison University – Student Paper 11:00-11:20 a.m. The Waterfall Paradox: Isolating salmonid populations in ideal

habitats

C. May – James Madison University11:20-11:40 a.m. Is VDGIF Lake Fertilization Contradicting Chesapeake Bay

TMDLs?

O. Swahn – James Madison University – Student Paper

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TIME Hotel Meeting Room11:40-12:00 p.m. Limestone Treatment Pilot Study at Montebello Fish Cultural

Station

K. Kulzer – James Madison University – Student Paper12:00-12:20 p.m. Population Genetics of Virginia Walleye

S. Harris – Virginia Tech – Student Paper12:20-12:30 p.m. Real World Science in the Hands of High School Students, An

Overview

H. Abboud – James Madison H.S. – Student Paper (Lightning)12:30-2:00 p.m. LUNCH – On Your Own

Invited Speaker Sessions2:00-3:00 p.m. Stephen Nash

University of Richmond

Climate change and Virginia's natural systems

Recent improvements in climate physics and available computational resources have enabled climate change projections at the regional scale. What's in store for Virginia, and what are some likely impacts on natural systems?

3:00-4:00 p.m. Dr. Michael PaceDepartment of Environmental Sciences, University of VirginiaLake Experiments to Test Early Warning of Resilience LossInland water ecosystems can undergo abrupt change transforming rapidly to a different state. Theory indicates that a detectable loss of resilience may occur in advance of some state changes. We tested this theory with two types of whole lake manipulations – fish additions and nutrient fertilization. The lake manipulations carried out over a seven-year period demonstrated the potential of early warning statistics based on time series data to detect loss of resilience. Many ecosystem regime shifts also involve transitions in spatial pattern. We are currently exploring whether changes in spatial statistics indicate loss of resilience. Overall, high frequency spatial and temporal data have potential to indicate changes in resilience and provide important understanding of ecosystems that are emerging under global trends.

4:00-4:15 p.m. BREAK (Registration Open in Hotel Lobby)

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4:15-5:30 p.m. VA Chapter Business Meeting and Awards – Hotel Meeting Room(Jenkins and Ross Student Scholarships, Best Student Paper Awards, Surber Scientist Award, Natural Resource Conservationist Citizen Award)

6:00-7:00 p.m. Poster Session and Social – Hotel Ballroom

TIME Hotel Ballroom6:00-7:00 p.m. Poster Session Hosted by The Virginia Tech Chapter, AFS

Can Isolated Salmonid Populations be an Effective Conservation Strategy? Comparing Above and Below Waterfall Populations of Eastern Brook Trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) in Southern Appalachia

H. Eisemann – James Madison University – Student PosterBlue Catfish Fishery and Population Characteristics Trends in Virginia Tidal Rivers

C. Hilling – Virginia Tech – Student PosterLongitudinal Distribution, Habitat, and Species Diversity of the Fishes of Back Creek, a Lower New River Drainage Tributary, Virginia

C. Hopkins – Virginia Dept. of Game and Inland Fisheries – Student PosterFish Assemblage Differences Above and Below a Dam on the Upper New River in Southwest Virginia

H. Kim – West Virginia University – Student PosterCulture of the Alewife Floater (Utterbackiana implicate) at the Virginia Fisheries and Aquatic Wildlife Center

M. Odom – U.S. Fish and Wildlife ServiceField Guide to the Freshwater Fishes of Virginia

D. Orth – Virginia TechFreshwater Invertebrate Community Response to the Presence of Predatory Fish

K. Reifenberg – James Madison University – Student PosterA Proposal to Establish a 501(c)(3) Funding Source, Entitled The Virginia Native Trout Trust, Exclusively Focused on Brook Trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) Conservation

M. Smith – U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (retired)Assessing Potential Habitats for Brook Trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) Sustainability

M. Waclawski – James Madison H.S. – Student Poster

7:00-10:00 p.m. Dinner & Raffle – Hotel Ballroom

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Thursday, February 22rd 9:00 a.m. – 10 a.m. Registration for Joint AFS Meeting in Hotel Lobby

TIME Hotel Meeting Room9:00-9:10 a.m. Announcements and Best Student Poster Award

Johnathan Harris, VA Chapter PresidentContributed Papers Session II; Moderator: Haley Jenkins

9:10-9:30 a.m. Hyperbole, Simile, Metaphor, Invasivore: Messaging around Blue CatfishD. Orth – Virginia Tech

9:30-9:50 a.m. Characterizing Fish Assemblages in Tidal-Fresh Reaches of Virginia’s Tidal RiversF. Hoogakker – Virginia Dept. of Game and Inland Fisheries

9:50-10:10 a.m. Accuracy Testing of an Electronic Fish Counter for Walkers Dam Denil FishwayA. Weaver – Virginia Dept. of Game and Inland Fisheries

10:10-10:20 a.m. Using Remote Trail Cameras To Determine Angler Use of Stream Trout Fisheries in Virginia IT Infrastructure PartnershipS. Reeser – Virginia Dept. of Game and Inland Fisheries (Lightning)

10:20-10:40 a.m. BREAKContributed Papers Session IV; Moderator: Collin George

10:40-10:50 a.m. The Utilization of Common Carp Pituitary Gland to Induce Muskellunge (Esox masquinongy) OvulationJ. Hallacher – Virginia Dept. of Game and Inland Fisheries(Lightning)

10:50-11:10 a.m. 2015-16 James River Angler SurveyE. Brittle – Virginia Dept. of Game and Inland Fisheries

11:10-11:30 a.m. Assessing a Recent Freshwater Mussel Mass Mortality Event in the Clinch RiverC. Carey – Conservation Management Institute, Virginia Tech

11:30-11:40 a.m. Aquaculture in Virginia and BeyondB. Delbos – Virginia Dept. of Game and Inland Fisheries (Lightning)

11:40-11:50 a.m. Update on the US Forest Service Freshwater Snorkeling Education ProgramC. Roghair – U.S. Forest Service (Lightning)

11:50-12:10 p.m. Using Ecological Traits to Improve Seabird Bycatch Risk AnalysisC. Zhou – Virginia Tech

12:10-12:30 p.m. Evaluations of Walleye and Saugeye Stockings in Eastern Virginia ImpoundmentsS. Herrmann – Virginia Dept. of Game and Inland Fisheries

12:30-12:40 p.m. Closing Remarks

Johnathan Harris, VA Chapter President

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