Dr. Caleb Hasler, photo supplied
UWinnipeg biologist Dr. Caleb Hasler is the president of the Canadian Aquatic Resources Section (CARS), American Fisheries Society (AFS). In this role, he has been tasked to coordinate a virtual Canada Session for the 150th Meeting of the American Fisheries Society.
“The American Fisheries Society includes over 8000 fisheries managers, biologists, professors, ecologists, aquaculturists, economists, engineers, geneticists, and social scientists,” said Hasler. “It is the oldest and largest fisheries oriented professional society in the world.”
Hasler and the CARS-AFS executive committee, that also includes UWinnipeg graduate student Jamie Card, have decided the session will focus on space creation for early career researchers from underrepresented groups. With this in mind, Drs. Andrea Reid and Rowshyra A. Castañeda will present keynote lectures.
Reid will discuss Indigenous Fisheries, and Castañeda will detail a brief history of Canadian fisheries, based on a paper Hasler co-authored with UWinnipeg biologist Dr. Scott Forbes, and several others. Following these lectures, CARS will announce the winners of the Larkin Awards, which recognize student excellence.
“This meeting allows Canadian Aquatic Resources Section to showcase our early career researchers in the best way possible to the greatest number of future colleagues and employers,” said Hasler. “It also allows us to provide a platform for these young researchers to tell their stories and highlight their research. This is a must watch session and I encourage all UWinnipeg students and faculty that have an interest in fisheries to attend.”
The session will be live on Thursday, September 24, 2020 at 12:00 pm CDT to 2:00 pm CDT.
The session is free, but registration is required.
Please register online for Plenary #7: Canada Theme Day on September 24, 2020 at 1:00 PM EDT (12:00 PM CDT ).
Hasler joined UWinnipeg in 2017 as an Assistant Professor. He is the principal investigator of the Fish Biology and Aquatic Conservation laboratory in the Department of Biology. His lab studies behavioural and physiological consequences of environmental change and human interactions on freshwater organisms. Their work is supported by NSERC – Discovery Grant, Research Manitoba – Early Career Investigator Grant, and the Fisheries and Wildlife Enhancement Fund.
Card is a NSERC scholar currently doing her MSc studying the effects of catch-and-release angling on understudied fish species and in understudied conditions, working under the supervision of Hasler. She is currently on leave working for Fisheries and Oceans Canada thanks to an opportunity that was presented to her at UWinnipeg last year.
