I was fortunate to receive the 2024 AFS IFS Fellow Award. This award is supported jointly by the FSBI and the International Fisheries and Education Section of the American Fisheries Society and funded my travel to the 2023 FSBI Annual Symposium at the University of Essex. In the days leading up to my trip, I was excited but nervous to attend my first international conference. I learned that there were underground strikes that would potentially add to the complexity of my travel (luckily these stopped before I arrived) and that rain was forecasted for the entire conference. After purchasing a new travel raincoat, I was ready to go!

Following a smooth day of travel, I made my way to the University of Essex in Colchester. I enjoyed exploring around the town and campus, which was beautiful despite the drizzle. I got a sneak peek at the Essex Business School building where we would have most of our presentations, a striking zero-carbon building with gardens inside and a living roof. My conference experience began with a riveting excursion first thing Monday morning with Dr. Tom Cameron, where we explored the Essex Wildlife Trust’s Abbots Hall saltmarsh and discussed their use as fish nurseries and the oyster industry in the local area. It is incredible how different the marsh is from what I am used to on the east coast of the US! Having an outing like this early in the meeting was a great way for a newcomer like me to make easy connections (thanks Matt Hatfield).

The meeting opened with an excellent lecture by Dr. Steve Campana discussing shifting baselines in fish distribution and growth using a myriad of methods including aging otoliths found in archaeological digs. The sessions were well organized and featured cutting-edge research from across the globe. I had the pleasure of presenting one of my research projects where I used acoustic tagging to record fine-scale habitat usage data for an estuarine fish (sheepshead, A. probatocephalus) surrounding an oyster aquaculture installation in North Carolina. I was grateful that the talk was well received by the audience, including some excellent questions. During a later networking time, I met Zoe Morrall who is working on a restoration project in the Solent and we discussed the feasibility of including oyster aquaculture gear to improve water quality and provide fish habitat. Connections like this are, in my opinion, the most important part of conferences.

Throughout the conference, I was continually impressed by the broad international representation. According to a post meeting update, there were 200 in-person attendees from 26 different countries. I had the pleasure of discussing my research, along with other topics, with scientists from across the British Isles, Germany, France, Denmark, Norway, Slovenia, Australia, South Africa, and the Netherlands. I greatly enjoyed the wide range of networking opportunities provided by the meeting including a wine reception at the Wivenhoe House, a movie night showing Riverwoods, and a delicious three course banquet with a band held at the Prested Hall.

I am extremely grateful to both AFS and FSBI for the opportunity to attend the 2023 FSBI Annual Symposium. I would not have been able to attend an international meeting without their support. I had a great time at the conference networking with other scientists and learning about fisheries research on an international scale. Thank you to the organizers of the conference, and I hope to come back to another FSBI meeting soon!