Reports from CAIP Affiliates:
American Fisheries Society

The American Fisheries Society (AFS) is an international membership organization that promotes conservation of fisheries resources and the professional development of its membership of scientists and managers. Currently, AFS has 9,000 members in more than 40 countries.

International activities for AFS are conducted through its International Fisheries Section and through its secretariat role and membership in the World Council of Fisheries Societies (WCFS.) WCFS sponsors quadrennial world fisheries congresses and promotes scientific information sharing globally. AFS also manages a network of fisheries scientists and managers from developing countries.

World fisheries congresses, sponsored by AFS and WCFS, began in Athens in 1991 and have since been conducted in Brisbane, Australia; Beijing, China; Vancouver, Canada; and the Fifth World Fisheries Congress is taking place in October 2008 in Yokohama, Japan. In February, AFS together with Australian and New Zealand sister organizations conducted a successful Tagging and Marking in Fisheries symposium in Auckland, New Zealand. Starting in 2008, AFS is launching a new international journal: Marine and Coastal Fisheries, an open-access online journal that will address key issues in a critical resource area.