The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center and the International Pacific Halibut Commission are pleased to invite participants to the 9th International Flatfish Symposium in Cle Elum, Washington, USA convened from November 9th to 14th, 2014.
Further information: www.flatfishsymposium.com
Background: Flatfishes are an important component of the demersal ecological community, and form a critical trophic link between the benthos and the pelagic realm. Flatfish are widely distributed from the poles to the tropics, and within these regions flatfishes occur in nearshore areas, are spread across continental shelves, and distributed over continental slopes and basins. Flatfishes also support important commercial and recreational fisheries. Increasingly, anthropogenic activities across the range of flatfish habitats, coupled with the economic and ecological value of flatfishes, heightens the relevancy of research on flatfish ecology, biology, and management across the globe.
Theme Sessions: The overall theme for the Symposium will be Life History Relationships and within this theme 6 sessions will be hosted:
Flatfish and the Pelagic Realm: New Perspectives
This session will explore new understanding of how flatfish utilize the pelagic environment in all stages of their life histories including, but not limited to, larval advection, post-settlement transport, vertical spawning excursions, predation, seasonal variability, and size-, age-, or sex-specific differences.
The Influence of Flatfish on Trophic Interactions and Community Structure
Throughout their lives, flatfishes occupy a unique position in the trophic web, serving as prey for a variety of large, piscivorous species and as predators on benthic, pelagic, and planktonic vertebrates and invertebrates. Studies that examine fishing effects on trophic structure, the scaling relationships that need to be considered in flatfish community ecology studies, which life stages affect the broader trophic community, resource partitioning, species interactions, and/or energy transfer are encouraged.
Flatfishes and Climate Variability
This session will examine how climate change influences flatfish life history and population dynamics and will address such questions as: What are the consequences of climate variability on phenology, growth & development, physiology, habitat use, condition, and evolution? What are the effects on life stage – habitat relationships? Are the forecasting approaches in development for midwater species suitable for flatfishes?
Disentangling Multivariate Effects
Flatfish ecology requires an understanding of the complex functional relationships between flatfish life history stages and the environment. This session aims to explore those relationships and highlight novel approaches to identifying the critical physiological, habitat, and environmental factors regulating species and community dynamics. We particularly extend invitations for field experimental and numerical studies ranging from individual to ecosystem levels.
Stock Assessment and Fisheries Management
This session will explore improving stock assessment and successful management strategies. Studies that highlight efforts to incorporate climate indices, novel life stage information, effects of gear efficiencies and modifications, and area closures into flatfish stock assessment are particularly welcomed.
Physiology, Development and Aquaculture
Here we invite papers on flatfish nutrition and growth, development, and rearing through all stages of the flatfish life history. Topics such as reproductive biology, fecundity, breeding and genetics are encouraged. We will also explore the effects of disease, parasitism and stress on flatfishes.
Important dates:
| Submission of abstracts | 1 March – 1 May 2014 |
| Early registration of participants | Ends 1 May 2014 |
| Late registration | Until meeting |
| Submission of papers | November 14 2014 |
Proceedings: Both oral and poster presentations can be submitted for publication in a special issue of the Journal of Sea Research. In order to warrant the timely publication, the deadline for submission of manuscripts is set at the Symposium (14 November 2014). Papers can be submitted from 1 March 2014 onwards through the EES system of the journal http://ees.elsevier.com/seares
Submissions will be handled according to the general procedures of the journal. Editors of the special issue are J.T. Duffy-Anderson and T. Loher. Authors are requested to constrain themselves to a maximum of 8000 words and to provide names of at least 3 potential reviewers.
Symposium Contacts:
Janet Duffy-Anderson
NOAA/AFSC
7600 Sand Point Way NE
Seattle WA 98115 USA
E-mail: [email protected]
Tim Loher
International Pacific Halibut Commission
2320 West Commodore Way
Suite 300
Seattle, WA 98199 USA
E-mail: [email protected]
Scientific Steering Committee:
| Henrique N Cabral | University of Lisbon, Portugal |
| Janet T Duffy-Anderson | NOAA Fisheries, Alaska Fisheries Science Center, USA |
| Elizabeth Fairchild | University of New Hampshire, USA |
| Satoshi Katayama | Tohoku University, Japan |
| Olivier Le Pape | European University of Brittany, Agrocampus West, France |
| Richard DM Nash | Institute for Marine Research, Norway |
| Jan Jaap Poos | Institute for Marine Resources and Ecosystem Studies, The Netherlands |
| Adriaan D Rijnsdorp | Institute for Marine Resources and Ecosystem Studies, The Netherlands |
| Josianne G. Støttrup (chair) | Danish Technical University, Denmark |
| Henk W van der Veer | Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, The Netherlands |
