Views from Bangor, North Wales - the FSBI summer symposium
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Autumn 2016
Views from Bangor, North Wales
– the FSBI summer symposium
Eleni Petrou, a University of Washington graduate student and
winner of the best student paper award gives her perspective
in fishery stock assessments.
Presenters dazzled us with
enormous data sets investigating
the basis of reproductive isolation
in pelagic fish and speciation
in reef fish and cichlids. Other
scientists discussed elegant
microsatellite data that
uncovered the sneaky love lives
of Mediterranean damselfish
or the connectivity of fish in
the polar seas. We heard some
excellent talks on the polygenic
nature of phenotypic traits in
salmonids and the development
of methods in environmental DNA
to monitor populations or species
assemblages. It was inspiring
to see colleagues poring over
genomes that they had sequenced
themselves, or passionately
dedicating themselves to a
research question on a shoestring
We arrived in Bangor, Wales in the around the world present their budget.
middle of an unusual heat wave. latest research. Some had traveled After the day’s work was done,
The clothes that we had packed thousands of miles, from as far as we congregated in shady university
for the Annual Symposium of the Australia, Malaysia, and Russia, to courtyards to socialize in the long
Fisheries Society of the British attend the symposium. The talks twilight hours. Our gracious host,
Isles were too warm and so we were interesting and well-crafted, Professor Gary Carvalho, had
came to the conference under- covering a variety of topics. We arranged for ample and delicious
dressed, wearing whatever short- learned about the potential effects supplies of food and drink, and
sleeved and filmy thing we might of sampling bias on estimates the conversations flowed easily.
have brought in our luggage. of effective population size for One adventurous scientist tried
During the day, we gathered in marine organisms, and then heard to convince me to sequence
the cool, spacious halls of Bangor about how genetic estimates the whole genome of my study
University to hear colleagues from of population size can be used organism [the Pacific herring, ➤
CONTENTS: President’s view ... 4 Editorial ... 5 Culum Brown’s Report ... 6 Notices ... 7 Research Report ... 8
➤ Ed.], and I traded ideas with treated each other to pleasantly course, after the banquet, at least
super-sharp graduate students, drinkable English ales and planted half the conference attendees
who had taught themselves how the seeds of friendships and lingered on the lawn into the
to deal with the thorny quirks of collaborations. These gatherings small hours of the night, sounding
bioinformatic analyses. lasted late into the warm night. so cheery and fraternal in their
Later at night, as a fat moon More than once, I was woken tipsiness. It was a pleasure to have
shone above the gentle Snowdonia up by groups of merry scientists attended the symposium and to
Mountains, we wandered Bangor’s who loitered under the dormitory have met so many convivial and
streets in search of pubs. We windows chatting excitedly. And of creative people.
Sweltering in Bangor – the Society’s annual symposium was one
of the biggest yet
Mention Bangor in North Wales principally by Professor Gary Social events began with a
and the tendency will be to think Carvalho (the Society’s Vice welcome reception on Tuesday
of rain and wind. The weather in President) although with a large evening at which the Bangor City
North Wales is typically Atlantic number of local and international mayor officiated. The evening was
and can be very variable. For the volunteers. The attention to detail very warm so people spilled out of
Annual Society’s Symposium this was amazing and insured that the room and sat on a grassy bank
year which took place between delegates were able to focus on where they could eat and chat
18th– 22nd July the weather was the talks and on the opportunities at the same time in a less stuffy
out of character. For the first two for interaction without distraction. environment.
days it was swelteringly hot for An excellent lunch was provided The main activities were in
the area, then, on Tuesday night each day as part of the package the new Pontio building which is
there was a thunderstorm and rain obviating the need to go foraging cut into the hillside connecting
which brought temperatures down in the lunch hour, there was a the old part of the University to
to a more normal, but still pleasant barbeque for which the weather the town below. Despite some
level. Despite this variability in remained dry, and an excellent minor teething problems with
the weather the quality of the conference dinner at the Bangor the new building, the location
papers given at the conference was Management Centre at which the was excellent with plenty of room
consistently high and provided Beverton, Le Cren and FSBI medals for posters, for talking and for
material suitable for a wide range were awarded to Lennart Persson listening to papers in the large
of participants. (Umeå University), Julian Metcalf auditorium.
The conference title was Fish, (Cefas) and Steve Simpson (Exeter The JW Jones lecture, was first
genes and genomes: contributions University). Presentations were given in 1992 during the Liverpool
to ecology, evolution and made by the Society’s President based conference celebrating the
management and was organized Iain Barber. 25th Anniversary of the founding ➤
fsbi Newsletter Autumn 2016 2
conference handbook. In this his
photograph shows him with a full
beard which had gone by the time
he got to Bangor, apparently as a
result of a vote in the family!
The main thrust of Craig’s
talk was the genetic architecture
underlying the size and age at first
reproduction in Atlantic salmon.
The paper was an interesting blend
of practical issues, such as that
big salmon, which are declining in
Finish rivers attract tourists, with
more biological issues such as the
different reproductive strategies
➤ of the Society. Jones (at right) that give males and females
was founding President of the maximum fitness. For females
Society and worked on salmon it is unequivocally the case that
ecology being one of the first, large size increases fitness as egg
if not the first, to record male number is a positive function of
salmon smolts fertilizing large size. For males there is a dilemma.
females. The life history element If they go to sea and achieve a big
of this work decided the content size they have to do this in the
of the 1992 conference and Geoff face of a significantly higher risk of
Parker, a one time colleague of mortality. Alternatively a male can
Jones gave the first lecture in the stay in the river and remain small.
founding president’s honour, In this case the risk of mortality is
analysing reproductive strategies much less but the fitness gain is
in fish. Since then we have had less. Craig’s work has discovered
a distinguished sequence of a gene that is associated with
speakers giving the Jones lecture age at maturity in salmon and
including in 2001, Robin Waples when homozygous for one allele
at a meeting in Leicester on is associated with an early age at
biodiversity and conservation. At maturity and the other homozygote
the Bangor meeting, Robin became is associated with high age at
the first person to give the Jones maturity with the heterozygote
to be preoccupying me at present. being intermediate.
lecture twice and his paper on
Craig, who is originally Australian As with so much of this type
Tiny estimates of the Ne/N ratio in
started by drawing attention to of genetic research, this gene
marine fish–are they real? set the
his appearance at the conference has also been found in mice
scene for the rest of the meeting.
in contrast to his picture in the and humans. In us the gene is
I did not arrive at the conference
until Tuesday afternoon so cannot expressed in people who can keep
comment on the detail of this their weight down whilst in mice
paper but those I spoke to were the gene is also associated with
full of admiration. weight issues. Such is the sparing
Keynote papers were also given property of the evolutionary
by Jennifer Ovenden (Australia), process.
Louis Bernatchez (Canada), Craig The meat of the symposium was
Primmer (Finland, pictured right), made up from all the contributed
John Casey (UK/Italy) and Dorte papers most of which were well
Bekkevold (Denmark). All these presented and full of interesting
papers were full of interesting findings, even as judged by a
observations and wise conclusions non-molecular whole organism
but Craig Primmer’s paper was biologist such as myself. An
the one that caught my attention, innovation was the holding at
mostly because it dealt with life the end of the day of so-called
history strategies which happen flash talks in which presenters ➤
3 fsbi Newsletter Autumn 2016
➤ had 3 minutes to present their Fellow Charles Waters (University wide range of countries, 26 in all.
main ideas. On Tuesday evening of Washington, Seattle). Both gave Unlike many of its predecessors
before the mayoral reception paper as did the eighteen early the topic of the Bangor meeting
there was a poster session with career scientists who received was inclusive and this might be
presenters in attendance. The one travel awards from the Society. the future trend. In particular next
complaint I had about this session Best poster went to John Hargrove year’s symposium at the University
was the noise level which made from the University of Florida and of Exeter, which will celebrate the
conversation very difficult. best student talk was given by 50th Anniversary of the founding of
The conference was attended Eleni Petrou from the University of the Society, will we hope be even
by Taylor Wilcox (University of Washington, Seattle (she gives her larger than the Bangor and with a
Montana and the US Fish and view of the conference elsewhere). much wider range of subject matter
Wildlife Service) who was an This conference was large in (see the poster in the Notices
American Fisheries Society relation to many other summer section).
Genetics Section Fellow and symposia held by the Society
the American Fisheries Society with almost 200 participants. As Paul Hart
International Fisheries Section usual the delegates came from a University of Leicester
Iain Barber, President of the Society
gives his view from the conference
One of the great pleasures and Genomes. As you will read
of serving as FSBI President elsewhere in this issue, the
is attending our Society’s meeting was a resounding
International Symposia, which success, both academically and
are held each year on a wide socially. Why was the meeting
variety of subjects in the fields so successful? In my opinion
of fish biology and fisheries. there were four key elements.
Because the meetings are on The first – unquestionably –
focused topics, this inevitably was the level of organization,
means that the President hospitality and general spirit
attends meetings outside of given to the meeting by the
his or her normal purview, organizing team, led by the
which nowadays is something irrepressible Gary Carvalho (at
that few of us are normally right). From the first moment,
able to do. This is regrettable the delegates felt welcomed
of course, because very often and valued, and every element
attending meetings outside of the meeting – from the
one’s own immediate research constant and early availability
area can give far greater of coffee, to the final sing-along
insights – and stimulate more at the close of the meeting – was packed full of interest,
genuinely interesting avenues had been meticulously planned and – almost uniquely in my
for novel research ideas and (well, maybe not the sing-along, experience – there was no drop-
collaborations – than attending but everything else…!). Second, off whatsoever in attendance
the same ‘comfortable’ the timeliness and suitably- or the level of questioning
meetings each year. I am writing broad nature of the topic of the throughout the meeting. Third,
this piece in the afterglow of meeting encouraged very high the careful selection of keynote
another fantastically successful quality scientific submissions speakers meant that each
FSBI Symposium, this time held tackling a wide variety of session began with a real ‘bang’
at Bangor University in Wales, extremely pertinent questions; as delegates were treated to
➤
on the subject of Fish Genes as a result, the programme incisive contributions from
fsbi Newsletter Autumn 2016 4
and collaborative family. I was large proportion of Society’s
present throughout the meeting membership – as indicated by
and heard many delegates the list of proposed conference
state that this has been the themes, we are taking a
best conference they’ve ever very broad approach to fish
attended. I would have to agree populations, and we hope to
with them – this one will live encourage wide participation
long in the memory. As a non- in the event. The conference
specialist attendee, I left the will also include a number
conference with a number of of FSBI celebratory events,
ideas for my own research that to include reflections on our
I know I would not have had, if I Society’s history, its role in
had not been there. shaping the fields of fish
Next year the Society biology and fisheries science,
celebrates its 50th Anniversary, and commemorating some of
and we hope to take some the figures that have played key
of the Bangor ‘magic’ with roles over the past 50 years. The
us to mark this occasion by meeting is being co-convened
holding a special meeting by Steve Simpson and myself,
at the University of Exeter and we will soon be contacting
➤ world-renowned fish and on ‘Understanding Fish you with further information
fishery scientists (e.g. Robin Populations’, the first about the meeting. For the
Waples above). And fourth, announcement of which is moment, please ‘hold the date’
but certainly not least, were included in this newsletter. The of 3rd-7th July 2017!
the conference delegates idea behind this rather more
With very best wishes
themselves, who appeared as broad topic than usual is to
one very happy, welcoming encourage participation by a Iain Barber
Editorial
Given that I have already written into this crowd-sourcing trend is around the world. This is now
too much on my impressions of the Secchi Disk project started producing a magnificent data set
the Bangor symposium there is by Richard Kirby. Realising that and you can see more at http://
not much to say here. The item there was a dispute as to whether www.secchidisk.org.
on Port Jackson sharks awakes phytoplankton populations in the
my interest in that it is part of a world’s oceans was declining or Paul Hart
growing trend of involving the not, Richard had the brilliant idea Leicester, August 2016
wider population in scientific of getting yachting people and
research. An organization I am other seafarers to use a secchi disk Next deadline for copy:
involved with and which taps to measure the point of extinction 1st November 2016
5 fsbi Newsletter Autumn 2016
Culum Brown reports on a project
using crowd funding of shark research
A shark research group based at network analysis shows they have information packs for schools
Macquarie University have been preferred social partners and each so we can slot into their biology
studying the behaviour of Port shark has its own personality. curriculum” said Sherrie
Jackson sharks (Heterodontus But conducting fieldwork is an Chambers, one of the PhD
portusjacksoni) for the past 5 expensive process and a single students working on PJs. “We think
years. The team is comprised acoustic tag costs around $500 to this is the kind of thing high school
of 5 PhD students, a masters deploy. So the team has looked teachers will embrace and the
student and a Post-doc all under for funding in an unconventional price tag is pretty reasonable given
the guidance of A/Prof Culum place, the general public. “Our the time the tags remain active.”
Brown. The team use a range of research attracts a lot of media As the word spreads, largely
through social media, more people
are taking advantage of ‘the adopt
a shark’ program and are making
solid contributions to shark
research.
Follow thefishlab through the
website (thefishlab.com), on
facebook (@PJsharktags) and
twitter (@FishLab_MQ)
techniques to understand the attention and the public has a
behaviour of the sharks including fascination for sharks” explained
passive and active acoustic Culum, “So we thought we
tracking, accelerometers, genetics, could make the most of that by
metabolic chambers, stable asking the public to help fund
isotopes and lab based cognition our research”. The team set up
and social preference tests. The a website “thefishlab.com” were
data to date has shown that these punters can log in and make a tax
sharks show very high site fidelity deductable donation. The site is
and return to the same reef for the linked to the university accounts
breeding season every year. This system and the university is a
is even more impressive given that listed charity. Donations over $500
they seem to migrate to Bass Strait enable an individual or company
and back every year, a round trip to adopt a shark. They get the
of about 2000kms. There is a high naming rights and are given access
degree of relatedness at breeding to a webpage where they can track
aggregation sites, particularly the movement of their adopted
among females and there is shark over time. The acoustic tags
strong population structuring with last up to 10 years, so it’s a solid
significant differences in genetic investment.
diversity between bays. Social “We are now preparing
fsbi Newsletter Autumn 2016 6
Notices
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7 fsbi Newsletter Autumn 2016
Research report
Shaun Robertson, Janette Bradley by the unmeasurable past common parasite Gyrodactylus
and Andrew MacColl at the experiences of each individual. arcuatus. Growth rate varied
School of Life Sciences, University To control for this variation, we with Eda genotype, the gene
of Nottingham, UK received an exposed F2 hybrid fish, between underlying a major adaptive
FSBI research grant to study two parental populations which phenotypic polymorphism, whilst
The immune response of three- vary in parasite resistance, to change in condition differed with
spined stickleback (Gasterosteus semi-natural conditions for 8 reproductive investment. This
aculeatus) exposed to natural weeks in enclosures in a lake study demonstrates that patterns
conditions in a field experiment. on North Uist, Scotland. We of immune system function in the
measured individual immune wild are not just determined by
Here is the abstract they wrote for gene expression profiles using variation in individual experience,
the paper reporting their results. a previously published set of and adds to our growing
markers, and examined which understanding of the function of
Placing our understanding of the factors contribute to shaping the immune response in a natural
function of the immune system immune function. As each fish setting.
into a more natural context, was individually tagged, we could
particularly identifying factors also examine variation in growth
which shape immune function, rate and changes in condition
is a fundamental challenge in over the course of the experiment.
understanding the evolutionary Exposure to natural conditions
relevance of immune system resulted in a change in immune
variation. Whilst patterns of gene expression levels relative
immune system variation can to a control set of fish kept in the
be observed when sampling lab, with variation associated
individuals from wild populations, with sex, reproductive condition,
they are potentially confounded growth rate, and infection with the
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fsbi Newsletter Autumn 2016 8
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