WWW.WAS.ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • SEPTEMBER 2025 7 U.S. Aquaculture Society CHAPTER REPORTS the favorite entertainment spots in the world — Las Vegas, Nevada, USA — for the only major national aquaculture conference and exposition held in the U.S. The U.S. Aquaculture Society joins with the National Aquaculture Association and the Aquaculture Suppliers Association to produce this annual conference that features the newest technologies in the trade show. The abstract deadline is September 28, 2025; this is the hard deadline for students to submit abstracts if they would like to be considered for student travel and conference awards. • The USAS Election Committee is soliciting nominations for the next USAS President-elect (3-year commitment), Vice President (2-year term), and two Board Members at Large (2-year term). USAS members should have received an email from “WAS Communications” in early September outlining the responsibilities and process. USAS Immediate Past President Abigail Bockus is the Chair of the Election Committee. Nomination materials and questions about the process can be directed to her (details and contact information in the email). The nomination deadline is October 6, 2025. • The USAS Awards Committee is soliciting nominations for the Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award, the Douglas Drennan II Industry Leadership Award, the Distinguished Early Career Award, and the Distinguished Service Award. USAS members should have received an email from “WAS Communications” in early July outlining the process, which is also posted on our USAS Professional Achievement Awards webpage. USAS President-Elect Adriane Michaelis is the Co-Chair of the Awards Committee with the lead on professional awards. Nomination materials and questions about the process can be directed to her (details and contact information in the email). The nomination deadline is December 1, 2025. • The USAS Student Activities Committee is looking for student members to help with planning for Aquaculture America 2026. If you are a student member who is interested in planning events, networking with other USAS students and members, and boosting your CV, please consider joining the committee. USAS members should have received an email from “WAS Communications” in mid-August with more information. To express your interest, please complete this short google form or reach out to USAS Student Liaison Julia Grenn (details and contact information in the email). “ONE — WE ARE the US-AS! TWO — A LITTLE BIT LOUDER! THREE — I STILL CAN’T HEAR YOU! FOUR — MORE, MORE, MORE!” — Michelle L. “Mick” Walsh, President In high school, I was captain of the cheerleaders. It happened by accident. I never thought of myself as a cheerleader; but my best friend and her older sister were cheerleaders, so reluctantly I tried out sophomore year. Senior year I was a captain. The accidental cheerleader. 25+ years later, I still think of myself as the accidental cheerleader. I can’t jump quite as high, but as USAS President, I consciously and actively look for opportunities to showcase and cheer on what our spectacular members do. Over morning coffee, I google the word “aquaculture” then hit the “News” tab to seek out what’s happened over the last few days. I search for the involvement of our members, and it isn’t hard to find them. Then we share on Facebook, X, Instagram and Linkedin (and we are working on expanding that communication). We are also better showcasing the recognitions we have bestowed upon our most prestigious USAS members. Recently, our USAS Professional Awards website has been updated to link to the bios and photos of our past professional award winners. We are working on something similar for our past student award winners. We also are tracking and storing our archives to make them more accessible, via our internal USAS Board shared drive as well as on the USAS website. This is all thanks to the technological acumen of our USAS Promotion and Membership Outreach - Sub-Committee on Social Media and Website Chair, Dave Perera. In an initiative spearheaded by USAS member and past student liaison (2016) Matt Hawkyard, we are participating in a coalition to harmonize aquaculture messaging with the goal of educating the public about the US seafood deficit and aquaculture’s role in addressing it. Key themes include seafood accessibility, encouraging consumption of more US-sourced seafood, and the importance of research and development in supporting aquaculture and wildcapture seafood sectors. Current members include USAS, University of Maine Aquaculture Research Institute, NOAA, Sea Grant, Mote Laboratories, University of Idaho, the National Aquaculture Association, the Maine Aquaculture Association and Auburn University. The group seeks additional partners that share the same mission — particularly communications specialists, so please reach out to Matt if you are interested and able to participate. “LET’S GO! LET’S GO! L-E-T-S – G-O!” • As we roll into Fall, the USAS conference committee led by Omolola Betiku, Jackson Gross, Aaron Pilnick, and Aaron Watson are “Bringing All Players to the Table” for AQUACULTURE AMERICA 2026 (February 16-19, 2026), which returns to one of Over morning coffee, I google the word “aquaculture” then hit the “News” tab to seek out what’s happened over the last few days. I search for the involvement of our members, and it isn’t hard to find them. Then we share on Facebook, X, Instagram and Linkedin (and we are working on expanding that communication).
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