Australian Society for Fish Biology

The Australian Society for Fish Biology was founded in mid-1971, with the stated aims to "promote the study of fish and fisheries in Australia, and to provide a communications medium for Australian fish workers".[6] The society had a founding membership of 79 fisheries researchers and managers from eastern Australia and Tasmania.[6] Membership fees were initially $2 per year, but this was scaled back to $1 in 1973, as the society's income in its first two years ($246) far exceeded expenditure ($15).[6] The Australian Society for Fish Biology held its first conference in 1974, in Tewantin, Queensland, in partnership with the Australian Society for Limnology and the Australian Marine Sciences Association.[6][upper-alpha 1] Since then, the annual conference has been held in all major Australian states and territories, as well as New Zealand in 2003 and 2013.[6] In 2000, the society had 535 members from 17 countries.[6] As of July 2019, the society had 438 members, with more than a third of these students.[8]

An evening event as part of the 2016 ASFB conference in Hobart, Tasmania

Delegates mingle during a tea break at the 2017 ASFB conference in Albany, Western Australia

John Morrongiello opens the 2018 ASFB conference in Melbourne

Conferences have been held annually in Australia or New Zealand since 1974, sometimes in partnership with related organisations such as the Oceania Chondrichthyan Society[3] and the Australian Society for Limnology.[4] In 1974, the first ASFB conference was held in Tewantin, Queensland. This location was chosen due to its close proximity to the estuarine system of the Noosa Lakes, which aligned with the meeting's estuarine theme.

In 1975, the 2nd ASFB conference was held at the NSW Brackish Water Fish Culture Research Station at Port Stephens, New South Wales, and was attended over two days by 60 members.[6] This conference generated a profit of $200.[6] The 3rd ASFB conference was held in Lakes Entrance, Victoria over the weekend of 18–19 September 1976, although some presentations on the Saturday afternoon were poorly attended due to the 1976 VFL Grand Final.[6]

The ASFB conference first took place in Tasmania, at Westside Hotel in Hobart, in 1982.[6] In 1986, Darwin hosted the first ASFB conference in the Northern Territory, chaired by John Glaister and attended by 160 members.[6] For the first time, concurrent sessions were introduced to cope with the increasing number of conference presentations.[6] The conference dinner took place at the sailing club on Fannie Bay, with the fancy dress theme "Come as your Taxon".[6] The first South Australian conference was held the following year, at Victor Harbor, South Australia.[6]

The 1989 conference, held on Magnetic Island, Queensland, was almost cancelled due to a pilots' dispute that grounded all domestic commercial airlines.[6] Many delegates flew to Townsville aboard a RAAF Hercules troop carrier aircraft that had been put into temporary service by the Government.[6] Other delegates drove the thousands of kilometres to Townsville from their home cities. In total, 105 of the 140 registered delegates made it to the conference, "demonstrat[ing] ASFB members’ determination to confer about fish at all costs."[6]

The first Western Australian conference took place in 1993, at the Sorrento Quay Function Centre.[6] The 1996 conference in Brisbane was subsumed by the 2nd World Fisheries Congress, which was hosted by ASFB and included 950 delegates from 66 countries at Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.[6] In 2003, the conference was held for the first time in New Zealand, hosted by Victoria University of Wellington.[6] The ASFB conference mascot is a stuffed toy called "The Duck", which appears annually at the conference dinner, from at least as early as 2004.[6]

Alongside their 2018 conference in Melbourne, the ASFB held an online public vote, in collaboration with Lateral magazine, to decide "Australia's favourite fish".[9] The competition received nearly 1,200 votes, with the leafy seadragon (Phycodurus eques) named Australia's favourite species, with 132 votes.[10]

List of ASFB annual conferences:[upper-alpha 2]

Since 1985, many conferences have been accompanied by workshops on specific topics.[7] The society also hosts three committees that meet annually, usually at the conferences: the Alien Fishes Committee, Education Committee and Threatened Fishes Committee.[14]

The Australian Society for Fish Biology is a founding member of the World Council of Fisheries Societies.[7] It hosted the 1996 World Fisheries Congress in Brisbane, Queensland, and will host again in Adelaide, South Australia in 2020.[15]

The Lake Eacham rainbowfish, Melanotaenia eachamensis, was classified as Endangered in the ASFB's 1989 listings.[16]

In 1985, the Australian Society for Fish Biology held a two-day conference workshop in Melbourne to discuss Australia's threatened fishes.[17] The attendees developed a set of conservation status categories and criteria, and listed 59 species in total.[17] A Threatened Species Committee was established two years later, at the 1987 conference;[17] the first threatened fishes list was published that same year.[18] Since 1988, these conservation listings have been updated annually.[14][16]

In the 1985–89 listings, species were classified as one of the following:[16]

• Extinct[upper-alpha 8]
• Endangered[upper-alpha 9]
• Vulnerable[upper-alpha 10]
• Potentially threatened[upper-alpha 11]
• Indeterminate[upper-alpha 12]
• Restricted[upper-alpha 13]
• Uncertain status[upper-alpha 14]

These classifications have been used by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature to inform their own Red List,[19] and by Environment Australia to develop their "Action Plan for Australian freshwater fishes."[18] In 1991, members of the society endorsed a formal nomination process for listing or delisting species.[18]

In 1976, the society introduced the first of several conference awards: the Gilbert P. Whitley Memorial Student Award was given for the best paper presented by a student. The winning student, C.M. MacDonald, received a prize of $50.[6] As of 2017, this prize is sponsored by the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation and is worth $600 in both the 'junior' and 'senior' student categories.[20][upper-alpha 15] The society also awards the John Glover Travel Fund, which was introduced in 1983 as the Student Travel Award, to fund students to attend the conference; and the John Lake Poster Awards, which debuted in 1987.[6] In 1986, the society instigated the humorous Donald D. Francois award to celebrate "an outstanding contribution to fish biology"; the winner received a dozen bottles of red wine from Francois' winery in the Hunter Valley.[6]

The K. Radway Allen Award, named in honour of fisheries biologist Kenneth Radway Allen, is awarded by the society "for an outstanding contribution in fish or fisheries science."[21][7] The award, which may be given annually, is intended to celebrate research conducted primarily in Australia, although not necessarily by a member of the society.[21]

David Bellwood, awarded the K. Radway Allen Award in 2015, presents his research at the following year's conference.

Bronwyn Gillanders (right), former ASFB President and 2016 K. Radway Allen Award winner.

Since its founding, the Australian Society for Fish Biology has had 23 presidents, most serving terms of two years.

Richard Tilzey, ASFB President from 1981–3.

Seven current and former ASFB presidents in 2018. Left to right: Harry Balcombe, Chris Fulton, Gary Jackson, Bronwyn Gillanders, Mark Lintermans, John Koehn and Andrew Sanger.

Mark Lintermans, ASFB President from 2005 to 2007.

Gary Jackson, ASFB President from 2013 to 2015.

Chris Fulton, ASFB President from 2015 to 2017.

• World Council of Fisheries Societies

• Official website