Welcome

On behalf of the local organising committee, I would like to extend a very warm welcome to the ASFB 2018 Conference in Melbourne. Our conference venue is situated in Carlton, walking distance from the iconic Lygon Street restaurant strip, Brunswick Street bars, Melbourne Museum, Melbourne University, and of course just a few minutes tram ride to the centre of Melbourne.

Our conference theme is ‘Science into Practice, Practice into Science’. We hope that the 2018 ASFB Conference will, over four days, challenge and engage you by exploring the relationships between scientific research, natural resource management and policy formulation. Scientists, industry, and government share many goals and together we have made major advances in managing our freshwater and marine environments and resources. We want to celebrate our successes at the science-practice nexus. Through sharing experiences, priorities, skills and new ideas, we also want to inspire you to forge even stronger and more productive relationships with other stakeholders in your field. We want you to think in new ways about how we can integrate science with management, and how management can effectively guide science to collectively address the key issues in fish and fisheries.

Your program for the week kicks off with a welcome mixer on Sunday evening which offers the perfect opportunity to catch up with friends and colleagues and talk fish. It ends with the famous conference dinner at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground, an event not to be missed! In between, you will have the opportunity to listen to our world-class plenary speakers, and attend sessions on a diversity of themes ranging from challenges in fisheries management, to climate change, recreational fisheries, adaptive management, threatened species, and fish behaviour. On Tuesday, we are hosting a public forum on climate change at Melbourne Museum, and on Wednesday, four engaging workshops, including sessions on fish ethics and welfare and a job application and interview skills 

I thank everyone for travelling to Melbourne to be part of this event, and to the local organising committee and ASN Events for their tireless efforts to help bring you what will be a memorable week. During your stay I hope you enjoy all Melbourne has to offer, including world-class culinary and bar experiences, a vibrant arts and culture scene, and stunning natural environments just a short trip out of town. I wish you all a thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding conference!

John Morrongiello
Conference Chair

On behalf of ASFB, I would like to welcome you to the 2108 ASFB Conference in Melbourne, Victoria. The conference theme: “Science into Practice, Practice into Science” presents a great opportunity to focus on lessons from the past and into the future to ensure linkages between research, natural resource management and policy can be aligned. Many thanks to our local organising committee and Conference Chair John Morrongiello for putting together a truly inspiring program around this theme.

Our four days of presentations encompass some great special sessions that feed into our conference theme, including the restoration and enhancement of freshwater fishes via adaptive management; fish ethics and welfare; challenges in fisheries management; climate change; Elasmobranch behaviour and movement; aquatic pollution and fish migration and connectivity and recreational fishing.  Each day kicks off with a plenary from one of four fantastic invited speakers and it will be great to hear the talks from our award winners (ECR excellence, ECR International Travel and K. Radway Allen). The special public forum event this year on Tuesday evening at the Melbourne Museum revisits the earlier ASFB event held in 2010. This forum will highlight what we have learned from then to now and how did those early predictions fare? Is the future as we expected, better or worse?

Wednesday‘s workshops are not be missed; covering threatened species, a PhD/ECR skills session, Fisheries Management and Fish Ethics. The day rounds out with a huge poster session which will be no doubt a highlight.  Thursday presents an opportunity to catch up with the very latest on the Carp control Program and the various pieces of research that are informing it. We round out the week with our highlight the Conference Dinner at the MCG which will be a much-anticipated finale.

I wish everyone a wonderful time at our Melbourne Conference and the surrounding area if the opportunity arises. I hope it is a memorable event for catching up with old friends, making new friends and exchanging knowledge about our fish and fisheries. 

Stephen (Harry) Balcombe                                    

President, Australian Society for Fish Biology