March 2 Monthly Meeting and Presentation: “Florida Fisheries-Independent Monitoring
Program: Implications for Management and a Glimpse at Efforts From the Panhandle Region and Beyond” by David A Gandy, fishery scientist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, Apalachicola Bay Field Lab at East Point, Fl.
The meeting will be held in Room 130 of the student services building (Bldg 400) at the
Northwest Florida State College – Niceville campus. Socializing begins at 6:30 PM and the program at 7:00 PM. Admission is free and open to the public. Call or e-mail Dr. Don Baltz at (225) 252-2760, dbaltz@lsu.edu. for more information. Please visit our website at Choctawhatcheeaudubon.org. and our Facebook page at Choctawhatchee Audubon Society.
Mr. Gandy’s Abstract: Managing Florida’s fisheries is a complex process that integrates the best available data from multiple sources to inform policy decisions. These sources include data from commercial and recreational fisheries, scientific surveys that monitor patterns of abundance and habitat use, and collections of biological and life history information. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) Fish and Wildlife Research Institute’s (FWRI) Fisheries-Independent Monitoring (FIM) program plays a critical role in providing scientific data to managers. The primary mission of the program is to provide timely, accurate, and consistent fisheries-independent data and analysis to fisheries managers for the conservation and protection of Florida’s fisheries. The FIM program accomplishes this by monitoring long-term trends in abundance of fish and invertebrates in relation to habitat and environmental conditions across major estuarine, coastal, and reef systems throughout Florida. This presentation will provide an overview of the FIM program, describe the value of FIM data as it pertains to the management process, and highlight examples of FIM data analyses for a few key species collected from the panhandle region.
March 18 Field Trip: Alan Knothe leads this exciting trip to a private woodland preserve near DeFuniak Springs. Get close to nature and see a variety of woodland species. Meet in the CVS parking lot in Oak Creek Shopping Center off Rt 20 in Niceville at 7:30 AM. Contact Alan at 850-208-1780 for additional information. Visit our website at Choctawhatcheeaudubon.org and Facebook page at Choctawhatchee Audubon Society
March 22 Field Trip: Malcolm Mark Swan leads this trip to Veteran’s Park on Okaloosa Island, Veteran’s Park, home to a large rookery of nesting Great Blue Herons, also supports a diverse assemblage of passerines, shorebirds and waterfowl. It is a perfect time for herons in breeding plumage and Spring migrants. Meet in the NE corner of the Emerald Coast Convention Center parking lot at 7:30 AM. Wear closed toed shoes and a hat. For additional information contact Malcolm at (210) 343-9082. Please visit our website at Choctawhatcheeaudubon.org and Facebook page at Choctawhatchee Audubon Society.