Welcome to the 41st Annual Meeting of the Western Division of the American Fisheries Society

The theme of this year’s meeting is Fisheries, Society, and the Scientific Method: Challenging our Perception of Science, Policy, and Management. Science provides a basis for measuring environmental change, understanding how systems operate, and for predicting how altered environments might affect ecosystem function, services, and associated quality of human life.  Many laws governing environmental conservation and management, including those governing use of fisheries resources, stipulate that policy and decision-making be based on the best available science.  Yet, today, more than ever, science is questioned or thought of as a belief system rather than a process for determining cause and effect.  This meeting will focus on the use of the scientific method for finding answers. We seek abstracts on a broad range of topics, including scientific approaches to endangered species, habitat management, changing environments, conservation, and interactions between science, policy, and society. Sessions will be organized based on topics that explore the work of our active members and non-members alike in helping achieve the mission of the American Fisheries Society and promoting the scientific method in the development of policy and decision making.