Organizers: Hannah Murphy and Gail Davoren

Citizen science projects engage the public in science research and monitoring projects whereby volunteers collect, categorize or analyze scientific data. Participatory science, people-powered science, and community-led science are more inclusive versions of citizen science that include indigenous and local knowledge, as well as people who may be paid for their participation in citizen science projects. Marine and coastal citizen science projects are under-represented in national and international citizen science projects, which is a reflection of the challenges of working in aquatic ecosystems. However, these projects are important as they have the potential to support management, stewardship, and conservation of marine and freshwater resources by providing high quality data on species of high conservation value (e.g., whales, turtles) and commercial/recreational value (e.g., Atlantic salmon, capelin, walleye) as well as data that indicate ecological threats (e.g., ghost fishing gear, climate change, invasive species) and ecosystem changes (e.g., erosion, range expansion/contraction). New technology and easy-to-use apps increase the ease of data collection by citizen scientists, but the integration of these data into fisheries science, stock assessment processes, and research programs have had various levels of success. In this session, we are interested in papers where citizen science (in all its forms) has either been integrated or has the potential to be integrated in fisheries research programs. This may include use of citizen science data in management, stewardship or conservation of a target aquatic species or ecosystem; applications of new technology for collection and collation of citizen science data development of citizen science projects from the ground up; and the integration of indigenous and local knowledge in stock assessment processes..

Organizers: Kristen Coleman and Emily Stewart

Arctic freshwaters are some of the most sensitive and rapidly changing ecosystems on the planet and have consequently been the focus of many streams of environmental research. Limnological and fisheries research has identified many threats to the resilience of Arctic systems, including permafrost thaw, rising air temperatures, species range shifts, and long-range pollutants. For this session, we welcome contributions from Arctic-focused fisheries and limnological researchers, with the hope of facilitating cross-disciplinary sharing of ideas. Potential themes might include anthropogenic stressors on Arctic lakes and rivers, long-term environmental changes in Arctic systems, and the importance of temporal and spatial scales in understanding Arctic research. We hope to incorporate discussions of strategies to cope with current limitations on Arctic research and on connecting with Northern communities in light of a global pandemic. We also encourage discussions of how to better address equity, diversity, and inclusion in Arctic research and of practical strategies to increase meaningful collaborations with northern communities, especially with First Nations and Inuit Peoples.

Organizers: Doug Watkinson and Eva Enders

Telemetry is a valuable tool to inform fisheries management decisions, specifically, in regards to conservation and management of exploited and/or imperiled fish species. Telemetry projects provide a huge amount of data leading to develop of new sophisticated statistical analyses. More recent developed tags allow not only study movement, but also analyse swimming activity, habitat preference specific to water temperature and depth, and predation. Research collaborations are common in large scale telemetry studies, as projects are often ambitious and span over provincial and state jurisdictions in the river drainages, the Great Lakes, and oceans. As new technologies continue to evolve and recently collected data from large projects become available, we are providing a forum to discuss the latest technologies, methodologies, and analyses of telemetry studies.

Organizers: Caleb Hasler, Mike Lawrence, Phil Grayson, and Margaret Docker

From sea lamprey, one of the earliest and most destructive invaders to the Laurentian Great Lakes, to the more recent threat posed by round goby, Asian carps, and other species, invasive fishes cause significant ecological damage and economic losses to aquatic ecosystems. Thus, understanding the basic biology, spatial ecology, and response patterns of invasive fishes is critical to the development of effective and responsible management solutions. Novel technologies (e.g., eDNA, acoustic telemetry, population genomics) are being marshalled to detect invasive fishes, better understand their biology, and make inferences regarding their demographic history, population structure, and adaptability. Furthermore, emerging technologies are being investigated to effectively and selectively control invasive fishes (e.g., with novel or more specific toxicants) and limit their spread (e.g., with CO2, acoustic deterrents, or electrical barriers), and genetic control options (e.g., through sex ratio manipulation) are also being explored. This session will provide a forum to highlight emerging and novel technologies to improve our understanding of the basic biology of invasive fishes, facilitate early detection, and effectively control them while minimizing non-target effects. It will include discussions on the ethics and feasibility of genetic control, and provide scientists, fisheries managers, and stakeholders an opportunity to consider the potential for such technologies to help manage invasive fishes in their particular system.

Organizers: Michael Lawrence, Jennifer Jeffrey, and Kenneth Jeffries

Aquatic environments are under increasing threat from human activities. Human-induced habitat alterations and various abiotic and biotic stressors have the potential to adversely affect fishes at the individual and population level. The use of molecular toolsets, specifically transcriptional analyses (e.g. qPCR, whole transcriptome, etc.), are quickly becoming widely used for addressing conservation issues in fish biology in numerous settings. This session will provide a forum to highlight how transcript-based approaches are being implemented in contemporary conservation science across a diverse range of stressors and environments. The focus of the session will be on studies applying mRNA quantification across several scales ranging from individual gene targets upwards of whole transcriptome approaches. This session will also include discussion on the best practices surrounding the use of transcriptional techniques in conservation-based projects and its application in fisheries management. Furthermore, it will provide a venue for conversation on how these techniques may be applied to novel contexts while encouraging discussion on how to integrate transcriptional toolsets into conservation applications.

Organizers: Paul Bentzen, Sarah Lehnert, Ian Bradbury and Daniel Heath

The application of genetic technologies broadly defined in aquatic science has increased rapidly over the last 10 years, driven by unique opportunities to use the technology for pressing issues in fisheries management and aquatic conservation biology. Additionally, novel genetic technologies are fulling new applications almost monthly. The purpose of this session is to provide fisheries and aquatic science researchers, professionals and students a forum to present their cutting-edge work and interact with Canada’s top aquatic geneticists. The scope of the session will be broad, encompassing; fish genetics, genomics and gene function analyses at the population-level, aquatic metagenomics, environmental DNA applications, and emerging fish genetic technologies in fisheries and aquatic science.

Organizers: JEDI Committee

Organizers: Lynn Bouvier and Karin Ponader

The amended Fisheries Act and updated Fish and Fish Habitat Protection Policy Statement highlights important needs for freshwater habitat science, including a focus on anthropogenic impacts to habitat and consideration of cumulative effects. In 2018, Fisheries and Oceans Canada received resources to expand existing scientific research, and to implement new projects related to the links between impacts of human activities and freshwater fish habitat, as well as to the effectiveness of management measures. This new investment allowed for the creation of the Freshwater Habitat Science Initiative (FHIN), focusing exclusively on impacts to freshwater habitats across Canada. This session will showcase novel scientific research produced under the FHIN, with the aim to provide science advice in support of regulatory decision making.