UMass Amherst Hosts National Fish Passage Conference June 5-7
May 24, 2012
| Contact: | Patrick J. Callahan 413/545-0444 |
AMHERST, Mass. - The University of Massachusetts Amherst is hosting the 2012 National Conference on Engineering & Ecohydrology for Fish Passage from June 5-7. The event features keynote speakers Rebecca Wodder, senior advisor to the U.S. secretary of the interior, and bestselling fisheries-conservation author Paul Greenberg. It is being held on the first floor of the Campus Center.
The conference brings together fisheries experts, biologists, ecologists, engineers and policy makers to examine the problems, challenges and technological solutions for managing the wildlife species in the nation’s rivers. Organizers expect 300 people will attend the conference.
"It promises to be an important national forum for researchers and practitioners to exchange findings and experiences on fish passage issues," says David Ahlfeld, a conference organizer and professor of civil and environmental engineering at UMass Amherst.
Fish Passage 2012 is geared to researchers, educators, practitioners, funders, and regulators interested in technical advancements for fishways, nature-like fishways, stream restoration and stabilization, dam removal, road ecology and the myriad of funding, safety, climate change and other social issues surrounding connectivity projects.
"It’s called a fish passage conference, but it’s really broader than that," says Ahlfeld. "It’s about all the aquatic species that require movement up and down a river and are hampered by dams and other human structures."
Wodder gives the first keynote speech on Tuesday, June 5 at 8:35 a.m. In 2010, she was recognized as one of the Top 25 Outstanding Conservationists by Outdoor Life Magazine and in 1998 was named Woman of the Year by the American Sportfishing Association. From 1995 to 2011, she served as president of American Rivers, directing the strategic, programmatic, and financial operations of this national nonprofit conservation organization.
Greenberg will talk on Wednesday, June 6 at 8:30 a.m. He is the James Beard award-winning author of the New York Times bestseller Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food and a regular contributor to the New York Times Opinion Page, Magazine, Dining section, and Book Review. Greenberg lectures widely on seafood and ocean sustainability.
Arthur Popper, co-director of the Center for Comparative and Evolutionary Biology of Hearing in the department of biology at the University of Maryland, gives the plenary speech at 9:20 a.m. on June 5.
UMass Amherst is hosting the conference in cooperation with a number of sponsors, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
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