International Conference on Fish Telemetry (7th ICFT)

Dr. Hinch is a Professor and Associate Dean in the Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia where he leads the Pacific Salmon Ecology and Conservation Laboratory. He studies fish migrations, ecophysiology and behavioral ecology. He works closely with fisheries managers in government, First Nations and NGOs so that research results can be readily applied. He collaborates with social scientists investigating ways that science and knowledge can be effectively mobilized by stakeholders and decision-makers. He is a UBC Distinguished University Scholar, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, a Fellow of the American Fisheries Society, and has been awarded the American Fisheries Society Award for Fisheries Education, and, the Award of Excellence.

Plenary Talk: Telemetry has become the most influential tool for advancing science and management of Pacific salmon.

Dr. Sue Lowerre-Barbieri is a research professor of Fisheries and Aquatic Science in the School of Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatics Sciences (SFFGS) at the University of Florida. She is a fisheries ecologist, whose research focuses on improving our understanding of marine fish productivity and vulnerability through the integration of spatial ecology into our understanding of fish reproductive success. She takes a collaborative, integrative approach to do so, using models and multiple data sources, including acoustic telemetry, passive acoustics, histology, and genetics.

She leads the Movement Ecology and Reproductive Resilience (MERR) laboratory, which is a science collaborative between UF SFFGS and the FWC Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute. MERR integrates academic and government expertise, providing graduate student opportunities to draw on both, while working on research projects that show how emerging understanding of fisheries ecology can inform fisheries management. Sue collaborates with a wide network of scientists and is founder and director of the Gulf of Mexico telemetry network, iTAG (Integrative Tracking of Aquatic Animals in the Gulf of Mexico), working closely with the Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System and the Ocean Tracking Network.

Plenary Talk: Shifting to a resilience perspective: the need to integrate movement into our understanding of marine fish productivity.

Dr. Wayne Robinson is a Senior Researcher at the Gulbali Institute, Charles Sturt University, Australia. With several decades of experience as a biometrician, Wayne has mastered the design and application of large-scale monitoring programs. His expertise was put to the test in 2020 when he found himself in Laos as the world shut down due to the pandemic. Imagine being tasked with running an acoustic project in one of the largest river systems in the world and then all of the airports, and global supply chains, shut down. All the necessary equipment needs to be imported, and none of your team members have prior knowledge of the equipment or its installation. And none of your field-experienced team members are able to fly over to help you. Isolated, and in one of the most remote, landlocked countries on the planet, the client still wants the acoustic project delivered! Despite these challenges, Wayne adapted swiftly, navigating a complex procurement environment, brokering deals with customs and border officials and quickly mastering field deployment of PIT and Acoustic tagging systems. In this presentation, Wayne will share his experiences and the unique challenges of working in the vast and complex river systems of the Lower Mekong Basin. He will also outline exciting future possibilities for telemetry in this critical region, navigating multi-national jurisdictions, deploying successfully in high noise environments and learning new information on dozens of species including giant catfish and stingrays.

Plenary Talk: Migrations in the Mekong: Cutting-Edge Fish Telemetry in the Heart of Hydropower Country