LIBRARY

BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOOKS
GEOLIBRARY
HISTORY OF NEERS
HONORARY MEMBERS
MEETING HANDBOOK
NEERS ABSTRACTS
NEERS AWARDS
NEWS
PAST MEETINGS
PAST PROGRAMS
RECIPES

HOME

NEERS/SNECAFS JOINT MEETING

FINAL ANNOUNCEMENT

May 8-10, 2003
Holiday Inn, Fairhaven, MA

Hosted by
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
School for Marine Science and Technology

Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management
Woods Hole Sea Grant Program
Rhode Island Sea Grant Program *
MIT Sea Grant College Program
Southeastern Massachusetts Estuary Project
Narragansett Bay Estuary Program
ENSR International
New Bedford Whaling Museum

*(Agencies, Institutions or Corporations interested in supporting this Joint meeting can contact the organizer, for details on how to contribute.)

MEETING SITE:

The Spring 2003 New England Estuarine Research Society (NEERS) meeting will be held jointly with the Southern New England Chapter of the American Fisheries Society (SNECAFS), at the Holiday Inn Express in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. The hotel is located at the waters edge with a spectacular view of Fairhaven’s Inner Harbor. All day sessions on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday will be held in the Ballroom at the Holiday Inn Express. You will enter the building through the Harbor Front Conference Center entrance.

The meeting will begin Thursday morning at 10:50AM. All day Thursday will feature contributed papers from both SNECAFS and NEERS, and SNECAFS Student papers will be presented that day. All day Friday, beginning at 8:50AM, will focus on contributed papers from NEERS and SNECAFS, and all NEERS Student papers will be presented that day. All day Saturday will feature a Mount Hope Bay Symposium entitled ?Natural and Anthropogenic influences on the Mt. Hope Bay Ecosystem? beginning at 8:00AM,. Please see attached for details.

REGISTRATION:

The pre-Registration fee for this meeting is $75.00 for NEERS and SNECAFS members, non-members $90.00 and $40.00 for students. Included in this fee: all coffee breaks and lunches (Thurs. – Sat.), Thursday reception, Friday poster viewing, and post-banquet party. All this in addition to the presentations! The pre-registration deadline is April 15, 2003. Pre-register at the NEERS website (select “meetings”, then “date of meeting”). It is a HUGE help to the organizing committee to know about how many people will attend, plus you save money. PLEASE PRE-REGISTER, Print your WEB registration form or fill out the attached registration form and Mail with a check, made out to NEERS, to Dr. David Burdick, Jackson Estuarine Laboratory, 85 Adams Point Road, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824. Use this opportunity to make sure your NEERS dues are paid.
PLEASE NOTE: NEERS will be handling Registration for both SNECAFS and NEERS members.

SCIENTIFIC PRESENTATIONS:

Oral presentations will be limited to 15 minutes with an additional 5 minutes for discussion. Poster presentations will be on display for the duration of the meeting, and highlighted during two special poster sessions. Reports of work in progress as well as completed work and reviews of relevant subjects are encouraged. NEERS Students may compete for the Ketchum and Rankin awards for oral presentations, or the Dean and Warren Prizes for posters (see below). SNECAFS Students may compete for the Saul B. Saila Best Student Paper Award (see below). Every presenter must be, or become a SNECAFS or NEERS member. To become a NEERS member, please contact NEERS Treasurer (603-862-2175). To become an SNECAFS member, please contact (413-323-7632).

PROJECTION:

To facilitate the smooth running of the meeting, we are requesting that everyone intending to use PowerPoint plan to submit their presentation by FRIDAY, MAY 2ND. We plan to be strict about this timetable. This may be done by mailing a CDROM, zip disk, or sending the file as an attachment of an email to School for Marine Science and Technology, 706 S. Rodney French Boulevard, New Bedford, MA 02744. No one should plan to use their own computer for their presentation. Everyone should plan to bring overheads as a back up in case of a technological crisis.

NEERS STUDENT PRIZES:

Prizes will be awarded to students chosen by the judging panel in the following categories: graduate student oral presentation (Buck Ketchum Prize, $100), undergraduate student oral presentations (Stubby Rankin, $100), graduate student poster presentation (David Dean Prize, $100) and undergraduate student poster presentation (Scott Warren Prize, $100). Papers and posters are judged by a committee in terms of overall effectiveness, scientific content, and quality of the presentation. Students are encouraged to review the scoring criteria on the NEERS website (select “student center” then “presentation judging criteria”). Students who have won an award are not eligible for that award again. NEERS appreciates contributions towards the endowment fund for these prizes, so give generously when you pre-register. Free Banquet tickets are provided for students who are competing for the awards.

NEERS STUDENT TRAVEL AWARDS:

Three travel awards, each for $100, will be awarded to help cover costs associated with attending this meeting. Both graduate and undergraduate students may apply. Selection will be made by lottery and does not affect eligibility for student presentation prizes. To be considered for a travel award, you must be a member of NEERS and have your faculty advisor send an e-mail to by March 25 to certify that you are a student in good standing and you need the financial assistance. As always, NEERS greatly appreciates donations to the Bill Niering Student Travel Endowment fund.

NEERS POSTER TRIVIA CONTEST:

Contest forms with questions based on information on the posters will be distributed, and a lucky winner drawn from those with correct answers. The winner will receive a $25 prize, consisting of a year of NEERS dues and the balance in cash.

SNECAFS STUDENT PRIZE:

A prize will be awarded to the student chosen by the judging panel in the following category: Best Student Paper (Saul B. Saila Award, $50). A minimum of three committee members or members-at-large judge the papers using the standardized student paper evaluation form from the AFS Education Section. The Professionalism Committee Chair coordinates judging and tallies the scores. The winner will be presented with the award, a congratulatory letter prepared by the Chair of the Professionalism Committee and a certificate prepared by the parent society, at the next SNECAFS meeting. SNECAFS Students may be eligible for Student Travel and membership awards, see information posted on the SNECAFS web page.

SOCIAL ACTIVITIES:

After the Thursday afternoon session, there will be a Social Reception, which will include a Poster Session, at the School for Marine Science and Technology from 6:00-8:00PM, part of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Enjoy drinks and hors d’oeuvres as you tour the new building and visit with old and new colleagues. Take this opportunity to look at some posters as well.

Friday will feature a Social and Poster Viewing from 5:00-7:00PM at the New Bedford Whaling Museum with hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar free with registration. The Poster viewing will be followed by the Awards Banquet from 7:00-9:00PM, again at the New Bedford Whaling Museum for all those who purchase banquet tickets. After dinner enjoy our own Private Party with DJ (9:00 PM until Midnight) back at the Holiday Inn Express.

OTHER MEALS:

The cost for lunch, and coffee breaks (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday) will be included in the registration fee. Continental Breakfast is included with your overnight stay at the Holiday Inn Express. Without the pressure of finding off-site dining, the lunch breaks should be a good opportunity to look at posters and the waterfront view of the Fairhaven Inner Harbor.

SNECAFS BUSINESS MEETING:

The Business meeting will be held during lunch on Thursday.

NEERS BUSINESS MEETING:

The Business meeting will be held immediately after the last presentation on Friday afternoon.

ACCOMODATIONS:

A block of DBL rooms has been reserved at the Holiday Inn Express, 110 Middle Street, Fairhaven, MA 02719 Phone: 508-997-1281. The room rate for this block is $71.00 per room + tax. You must reserve the room by April 7^th in order to get the group rate. The room block is under the name ?SMAST?. Cancellation policy 3 days prior to arrival!

Other recommended hotels in the area: Comfort Inn, 171 Faunce Corner Rd., North Dartmouth, MA Phone: 508-996-0800 and Marriott Residence Inn, 181 Faunce Corner Road @ Exit 12A, North Dartmouth, MA 02747 Phone: 508-984-5858.

GETTING to the HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS:

FROM THE NORTH OR SOUTH, take I-195 TO EXIT 15 (Rte. 18 South) TO ROUTE 6 (FAIRHAVEN). GO OVER BRIDGE, HOTEL IS 1/4 MILE ON THE RIGHT. FROM the EAST, (CAPE COD) take I-195 West to Exit 18 (Route 240 South). Follow 240 South to Route 6 (FAIRHAVEN), take right onto Route 6. Continue on Route 6, then take left onto Middle Street, the hotel is on your right.

QUESTIONS:

Contact NEERS Program chairman, , SNECAFS Program chairman, , and Local Organizer, , School for Marine Science and Technology, 706 S. Rodney French Blvd., New Bedford, MA. 02744.

SPECIAL SYMPOSIUM DESCRIPTION

Title: Natural and Anthropogenic influences on the Mt. Hope Bay Ecosystem

A special Symposium to be held during the Joint Meeting of the New England Estuarine Research Society and the Southern New England Chapter of the American Fisheries Society, and hosted by the School for Marine Science and Technology, University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth.

Date: May 10, 2003

Place: Holiday Inn Express, 110 Middle Street, Fairhaven, MA 02719

Sponsors:

Coastal Zone Management
Woods Hole Sea Grant College Program
Rhode Island College Program
MIT Sea Grant Program
Southeastern Massachusetts Estuary Project
Narragansett Bay Estuary Program

Any agency, institution or corporation interested in supporting the Symposium should contact the organizer, , for details on how to contribute.

Purpose:

This symposium seeks to determine the state of knowledge of the Mt. Hope Bay ecosystem, and examine how what we have learned in Mt. Hope Bay can provide insight into the universal role of estuaries to Natural Resources production, and how natural and anthropogenic factors affect estuarine systems. Scientists from regional academic and professional institutions are invited to present the results of their current or past studies within Mt. Hope Bay, including retrospective studies of existing data sets. Studies within the Greater Narragansett Bay that are pertinent to understanding the Mt. Hope Bay ecosystem will also be accepted. Topic areas of interest include, water quality, habitat quality/distribution/loss, hydrography, exchange with the Narragansett Bay, benthic communities, fish biology and fisheries issues, plankton, birds, seals, land use patterns, watershed issues, environmental impacts, etc. As part of the Symposium, the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management (CZM) will host morning and afternoon panel discussions by regional resource managers to begin the process of assimilating research findings presented at the Symposium, and discuss their relevance to issues affecting Mt. Hope Bay, and its future monitoring and research requirements.

Proceedings:

Presenters will be strongly encouraged to submit their papers for consideration to be published in a special issue of the journal “The Northeastern Naturalist” dedicated to the Symposium Proceedings. The Northeastern Naturalist (ISSN #1092-6194) is a regional interdisciplinary scientific journal that serves as a standard scientific reference resource for northeastern North America, including Canada. The journal is indexed in Biological Abstracts (BIOSIS) and other major indices and is available online in full-text version in the BioOne database (a collaborative effort of Allen Press, AIBS, et al.), EBSCOhost product line, and the Proquest Information and Learning databases . See the journal’s webpage for more information.

Rodney Rountree and Brian Howes (SMAST) will serve as co-editors of the volume. A third co-editor is still to be determined. Manuscripts will be peer-reviewed by a guest editor in collaboration with two reviewers, each of whom is a subject matter expert, and each of whom will make editorial recommendations. The publishers of The Northeastern Naturalist and their Board of Directors will oversea the peer review process and insure the impartiality of reviews. Free copies will be provided to all Symposium participants. Presenters must submit draft manuscripts at the Symposium in order to hold a place in the Proceedings. Final submission of manuscripts to be sent out for review must be received by July 1, 2003. Papers accepted for publication by the journal will appear in a proceedings issue expected to be issued in the spring of 2004. A detailed guide to authors is available on the journals website.

Why Mt. Hope Bay?

Mt. Hope Bay is perhaps less well studied than most other Massachusetts estuaries because of its geography. It is located in the northeast corner of Narragansett Bay and lies partially within both Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The boundary between the two States divides Mt. Hope Bay, effectively isolating it from other Massachusetts waters. This happenstance of geography, together with recent public concern over the decline in fish stocks and habitat quality in Mt. Hope Bay, has resulted in a growing need for improved bi-State monitoring of the Bay’s environment and biological communities.