The staff of the Administration Centre would like to apologize for the lengthy delay since the last update was sent out to the Network Investigators. With the 4 new initiatives listed below, this should improve communications to the Network Investigators.

1. The inaugural AquaNet newsletter should be sent out within the next 6 weeks. This regular publication will provide a means of communications not only to the AquaNet research community, but also with the industry partners, the media and the general public.
   
   
2. Interim updates in this format will be emailed out regularly for matters that are timely.
   
   
3. A meeting between the Theme Leaders and the Administrative Centre in March will help to define the roles each has in communications in AquaNet.
   
   
4. A communications strategy is currently being prepared to encompass all activities of AquaNet.

Administrative Changes

Dr. William Reimer, professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Concordia University is the newly appointed member to the Board of Directors. Dr. Reimer's present research is in the field of poverty and deprivation in rural Canada. He is also currently President of the Canadian Rural Restructuring Foundation.

Dr. Kevin Keough, Vice-President (Research and International Relations) at Memorial University will be leaving the AquaNet Board of Directors on March 31, 2001 to assume the role of Chief Scientist with Health Canada. Thanks are extended to Dr. Keough for his efforts in spearheading the initial AquaNet proposal.

Dr. George Iwama has submitted his resignation as co-Theme Leader of the Animal Production Theme and as Chair of the Education Committee. Dr. Iwama recently moved to Halifax as the new Director General of the NRC Institute for Marine Biosciences and felt he was not able to commit enough time to AquaNet at this time. The Board of Directors thanked Dr. Iwama, as his time and efforts were vital to the initial funding of AquaNet. Dr. Iwama will remain a member of the Education Committee and a Network Investigator.

Dr. Joe Brown has agreed to assume the role as Theme Leader for all of the Animal Production projects.

Dr. Jay Parsons has been appointed the new Chair of the Education Committee. Dr. Parsons was a member of the Education Committee and is currently a Network Investigator.

With the loss of Dr. George Iwama and the previous resignation of Dr. Bonnie McCay due to overwhelming work commitments, the Research Management Committee (RMC) had two immediate vacancies. The Board of Directors is pleased to announce the appointment of two individuals to the RMC. The first appointee is Dr. Tony Charles, a professor in the Department of Finance & Management Science located at Saint Mary's University in Halifax. Dr. Charles is an economist and has a background in the natural sciences. The second appointee is Dr. Tom Sephton, Director of the DFO Biological Station in St. Andrews, NB. Dr. Sephton has a background in shellfish biology and aquaculture

Cathy Mahon is the new Administrative Assistant for the AquaNet Administrative Centre. Cathy will be responsible for the financial operations of the Network and can be reached at (709) 737-3245 or cathyp@mun.ca.

Nicole Budgell has been hired at the AquaNet Administrative Centre on a term basis to co-ordinate the research review process and to work on the main AquaNet database. Nicole can be reached at (709) 737-2646 or nbudgell@mun.ca.

A warm welcome is extended to all those joining the AquaNet community.

Research

The 27 new research proposals and the currently funded research projects have been submitted for external review. In March, the Research Management Committee will meet and review each project / proposal and will make a recommendation to the Board of Directors. Project awards will be announced in late March.

The Board of Directors has approved the RMC recommendation that the RMC shall adopt Appendix F (NCE Program Conflict of Interest Policy Framework) of the AquaNet Network Agreement as the Conflict of Interest Guidelines for the RMC. The RMC has agreed that its members may solicit research proposals on behalf of the network; however, if the RMC member has played a role in developing that project, he/she must disclose the conflict, leave the room for the discussion and refrain from voting on the project. The theme leaders will abstain from voting on projects within their own theme.

The Board of Directors has adopted the NSERC guidelines governing appeals (section 1.17 of the 2000 NSERC Researcher's Guide). Appeals of decisions made by the Board will only be allowed where there is compelling evidence of error or discrimination.

Education Committee

The Education Committee met in Halifax in the fall of 2000. Currently a working plan for its activities til March 2002 is being prepared. A mail-out from the Education Committee on Industry-based Workshops will follow this email.

Workshop with Industry

AquaNet, DFO and the Office of the Commissioner for Aquaculture Development have been discussing the concept of a workshop where the focus would be the involvement of industry. This workshop would serve as a mechanism to get industry involved in AquaNet research projects and could lead to an increase in research funds through industry participation. This workshop will also identify industry priorities, which will be important as AquaNet will undergo a mid-term review in March of 2002 that could result in an additional 3 years of funding.

Network Agreement

A revised Network Agreement has now been approved by the participating universities, NCE and the Granting Councils. All Network Investigators must sign a revised "Appendix C"; of the AquaNet Network Agreement. Many of you have been contacted by your respective Office of Research to complete this paperwork. For those of you that have not yet submitted a revised "Appendix C", a reminder will be sent out to you in a week or two.

Annual General Meeting

The Board of Directors has decided that AquaNet I – Vision for the Future will be the title and theme for the first AquaNet Annual Research Conference & General Meeting. AquaNet I will occur Saturday, September 29 – Tuesday, October 2, 2001 at the Westin Hotel in Halifax. The AquaNet community will be represented at the conference along with a number of invited speakers. It is anticipated that over 175 AquaNet researchers from across Canada will be able to meet and interact, during the 4 days of the conference. Individuals from government agencies, industry and other interested parties will be able to participate through a daily registration fee.

Saturday will include registration, set-up of scientific posters and an evening reception. Sunday will include presentations from each of the 3 Theme Leaders as well as some of the researchers in each of the themes. Theme Meetings will occur in the afternoon followed by a scientific poster social and a banquet. Monday will consist of four workshops / symposia on education, social sciences, animal production and environmental integrity. Researchers will have the opportunity to meet again in their respective themes on Tuesday morning

Every research project will have the opportunity to send representatives of the Network Investigators (scientists) and Network Researchers (PDFs and students) to the conference.

Website

In the next week or so, I am hoping to announce the bilingual AquaNet website. This is a project started in November and is a major accomplishment for AquaNet. AquaNet will be the 5th of the 18 Networks to have a completed bilingual website.

Many thanks are extended to translators Wilma Zomer and Renée Lebeuf and the webmaster.

I would like to take this opportunity to remind members in the AquaNet community that there is a Members Only section in the website where internal and older documents are available. You can submit your password to me at aquanet@mun.ca. Documents will be available in english and french where possible.

If you find a discrepancy, an omission or have a suggestion for the website, please contact myself or the webmaster.

Michael Riehl
Communications Officer