NAAFE Forum 2015 was held at University of Alaska Southeast, Ketchikan, Alaska, May 20‐22, 2015. Forum organizers were Keith Criddle, Quentin Fong and Gary Freitag. Forum sponsors included the University of Alaska (Fairbanks School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, and Southeast, in Ketchikan), Alaska Sea Grant, North Pacific Fishery Management Council, North Pacific Research Board, Northern Economics, Pollock Conservation Cooperative Research Center, and the Rasmuson Foundation.

138 people from 11 countries, of whom 26 were students, attended the 2.5 day Forum. Regular sessions were held on the following topics:

  • Aquaculture
  • Bioeconomics
  • Bycatch and Discards
  • Climate Change
  • Ecosystem Based Management
  • Ecosystem Services
  • Fishing and Communities
  • Markets and Trade
  • Modeling
  • Recreational Fisheries
  • Rights Based Management
  • Small Scale Fisheries
  • Lagniappe (Miscellaneous Topics)

 

Special, pre‐organized sessions were held on the following topics (organizers listed in parentheses):

  • The Impact of Catch Shares on Fishing Income Diversification and Fleet Diversity org (Dan Holland)
  • The Economics of Recreational Fishing Sectors in U.S. Fisheries: Allocation, Demand, Supply, and Impacts (Joshua K. Abbott)
  • Fisheries' Shoreside Support ‐ the Forgotten Sector (Ayeisha Brinson et al.)
  • MSC, FPIs, and Everything in Between: Assessment of the Evolving Markets for Certification and Sustainable Seafood (Hiro Uchida et al)
  • Re‐Thinking Niche Markets for Seafood: Challenges and Opportunities for "Local" Seafood (Gina Louise Shamshak)
  • Protected Resource Economics: Key Challenges for Incorporation in an Ecosystem Based Management Approach (Kathryn Bisack, Kristy Wallmo, Gisele Magnusson)
  • Emerging Technologies in Fisheries Economic Data Collection (Barbara Rountree)

 

The NAAFE 2015 Keynote Address, A Preliminary Approach to Formalization of Ecosystem Based Fisheries Management using the NS1 Paradigm, was given by Lee G. Anderson, IIFET Fellow and Maxwell P. and Mildred H. Harrington Professor Emeritus, School of Marine Science and Policy, College of Earth, Ocean, and the Environment, University of Delaware. The address is being edited for presentation in the journal Marine Resource Economics.

The NAAFE Best Student Paper award was given by selection committee chair Hiro Uchida to Yutaro Sakai, for his paper Subsidies, Fisheries Management, and Stock Depletion. Yutaro is a graduate student at the University of Calgary; his major professor is Dan Gordon.

NAAFE continued the tradition established by Sherry Larkin and Chuck Adams at NAAFE 2013 Florida, of awarding the Best Student Presentation at the Forum. This prize was supported by Marine Resource Economics (MRE), with a check provided by Chris Anderson. The winner was Amanda Faig for The Economic Cost of Ignoring Fishery Induced Evolution. Amanda is a graduate student at University of California, Davis; her major professor is Jim Wilen. The NAAFE Board expressed strong support for this prize, which aims to encourage excellence in communication of economic analysis of fisheries and aquaculture, and announced plans to make it permanent by establishing a policy within our governing documents.

Organizer Quentin Fong offered several informal tours to nearby locations at lunchtimes including the Trident Seafoods, a Dock Walk, and Oceans Alaska, and a post conference visit to the Southern Southeast Aquaculture Association Whitman Lake Hatchery on Friday afternoon.

The Forum started off on the right foot with a lovely scenic tour and welcome reception on a boat cruising the waters around Ketchikan. Old friends and new enjoyed wildlife viewing, noshing on local seafood snacks, and meeting old friends and new. The conference Banquet was held Thursday evening at the Best Western Landing Hotel, where delicious food and beverages were served, and the location of NAAFE's 2017 Forum was announced. Participants were delighted to learn that their next opportunity to meet in North America would be in La Paz, Southern Baja California, Mexico, in March or May (to be determined), 2017.

At the closing session, NAAFE President Eric Thunberg introduced the NAAFE Board members who will serve for the next two years, including:

President Gil Sylvia (Oregon State University, USA) (term 2013‐2017)

President‐elect Sherry Larkin (University of Florida, USA) (term 2015‐2019)

Alvaro Hernandez (Universidad Marista de Merida, Mexico) (term 2013‐2017)

Barbara Best (Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans Canada) (term 2015‐2019)

Alan Haynie (NOAA, USA) (term 2015‐2019)

 

Many thanks were expressed by incoming President Gil Sylvia to retiring President Eric Thunberg and Board member Diane Dupont.

Photos of the event have been posted on the NAAFE Facebook page.

Ann Shriver, NAAFE's Executive Director, with assistance from Melissa Errend (former graduate student extraordinaire) is setting up online proceedings which will be housed in the OSU Scholars' Archive. Participants will soon receive email from Melissa requesting permission to post their presentation online, and invited to submit full papers if desired. Authors are encouraged to submit their papers to peer reviewed journals, if appropriate, and to inform us of eventual citations, which can be added to the online proceedings. We hope to post abstracts, presentations, and papers in the Archive through August and have the eventual product available in September‐October of 2015.