Download Andrea Varela - New Zealand Marine Sciences Society

First Overseas Conference Travel Fund Report
Australian Society for Fish Biology Conference, Townsville, Australia
22 - 24 July 2011
Andrea Varela (Victoria University of Wellington)
Thanks to the NZMSS First Overseas Travel Fund I was able to attend to the Australian
Society for Fish Biology (ASFB) Conference on 2011 and to present a talk about my PhD
project on global population genetics of the deep-sea fish Hoplostethus atlanticus (orange
roughy). The conference took place over three days and congregated more than 200 fish
scientist mainly from Australia and New Zealand, but there were also delegates from the
United Kingdom, Japan, Korea, India, Iran, Turkey, Chile, and the USA.
It was the 37th Annual Conference of the ASFB and the Society also celebrated its 40th
anniversary. The conference covered a range of topics about marine and freshwater fishes,
fisheries conservation and management. Since the Conference was hosted by James Cook
University in North Queensland, most of the talks and presentations were related with studies
conducted in The Great Barrier Reef, one of the vastest coral systems in the world. It was a
great experience to be there, learn more about many different aspects of fish biology and
make links that could lead to future collaborations.
It was a high standard conference in an excellent venue. The welcome function took place in
the Townsville’s Aquarium, which gave us the amazing opportunity to see most of the local
fauna during night time.
I received several compliments and good feedbacks about my talk from both scientist and
fellow students. I was very pleased with my contribution, which was the only one dedicated
to the study of fish population connectivity using molecular markers.
I am deeply grateful for the financial support of the NZMSS which allowed me to travel to
Australia and to participate in this well renowned annual Conference.