World Aquaculture 5 USAS Chapter status report It is my great pleasure to present this update on behalf of the United States Aquaculture Society (USAS), a chapter of the World Aquaculture Society (WAS). As I write this update, I am three months into my year-long term as USAS chapter president, which officially began at the USAS annual meeting in late February. As many of you realize, this year’s USAS annual meeting was held in conjunction with the WAS triennial meeting Aquaculture 2010 in San Diego. Triennial meetings are always special because they are the combined annual meetings of WAS, the National Shellfisheries Association and the Fish Culture Section of the American Fisheries Society and, as such, are the largest aquaculture conferences and tradeshows held worldwide. However, this year’s triennial held special meaning for the USAS chapter because it marked not only our annual meeting but the 20th Anniversary of the creation of the USAS chapter. This auspicious milestone for our Chapter was acknowledged by presenting USAS Chapter members with membership pins denoting their years of continuous membership and Certificates of Appreciation for their years of dedication and service to furthering the interests of Aquaculture in the United States. A milestone such as this; however, cannot be simply acknowledged without reflection on the past and contemplation of future of the Chapter. When the United States Aquaculture Society was created twenty years ago, it was done so not to separate the chapter from the parent society WAS, but rather to allow both groups to better meet the diverse needs of their members. The primary venues through which USAS seeks to meet the needs of our members are through our US annual meetings and tradeshows that address relevant and timely issues identified by our membership, student awards that support development of the next generation of aquaculture professionals and publications to fill information gaps. Using this model, the USAS chapter membership has now grown to over 1,000 members (132 of which are students) and over $168,000 in total assets. Thus, even as we move forward in challenging economic times, the USAS chapter is financially stable and continues to seek ways to turn our economic assets into value for our membership including additional venues for annual meetings, new student and young professional awards, more publications and an increased commitment to outreach, education and professional networking through traditional and modern communication venues. The recently approved updated USAS Chapter 5-year Strategic Plan reflects these goals and provides both a roadmap and benchmarks to assess our progress. As a Chapter, one of our continuing endeavors is to hold annual meetings that showcase US aquaculture and promote information exchange to the benefit of our membership. As you read this it’s not to early to make plans to attend Aquaculture America 2011, February 28-March 3 in beautiful New Orleans, Louisianna. The Program Committee consisting of Steering Committee Chair, Reginald Blaylock; Technical Program Chair, Chris Green; NAA representative, Betsy Hart; and Conference manager, John Cooksey; are organizing a meeting that will no doubt accomplish our goals and be fabulous to boot. The abstract deadline of August 1, 2010 is fast approaching. This deadline is especially pertinent to our student members because in order to be eligible for the more than $6,000 awarded annually to our student members at the USAS meetings, abstracts must be submitted and student membership current by the abstract deadline for consideration for any award. These awards include Andrew McElwain was awarded the second place student presentation award during the March 2010 meeting of the World Aquaculture Society in San Diego, CA. McElwain received a BS in biology from Westfield State (Massachusetts) College in 2002. He continued to pursue biology at Middle Tennessee State University (Murfreesboro, TN) where he studied parasitic copepods with Dr. George Benz. After earning his MS in Fall 2007, McElwain taught General Biology and Microbiology at Columbia State Community College (Franklin, TN) and Motlow State Community College (Smyrna, TN) until Spring 2009. McElwain is now a PhD student with Dr. Ash Bullard in the Department of Fisheries and Allied Aquacultures at Auburn University and wants to study diseases of aquatic animals. Dr. Ash Bullard (left) and Andrew McElwain McElwain earns second place (Continued on page 68)
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