By Catherine Norwood

As part of the 2021 World Fisheries Congress in September, Fish biology research awards announced (ASFB) celebrated its 50th anniversary with several virtual events, including a student networking night and its annual general meeting. 

The ASFB was an official host of the congress, along with the World Council of Fisheries Societies, and the event took the place of the society’s annual conference. Therefore, the ASFB announced its annual award winners during the congress, including congress-related student awards.

The ASFB’s major award winner for 2021 is Tasmania’s Gretta Pecl, who won the K. Radway Allen Award for outstanding contribution to fisheries science. Hall of Fame awards for career contributions to fisheries and the society were presented to Anthony Fowler, Lindsay Marshall, Mark Lintermans, Jeff Johnson, John Koehn and Charles Todd. Todd was also presented with ASFB lifetime membership. Curtis Champion was presented with the Early Career Excellence Award for an outstanding early career contribution to fisheries research. 

Graduate student research awards included: 

• The Barry Jonassen Award for student research into freshwater fish biology or fisheries, won by Nur Un Nesa (James Cook University) with Patricia Koh the runner-up (University of Melbourne);
• The Michael Hall Award for student research into marine fish biology or fisheries, won by Molly Moustaka (University of Western Australia) with Elliott Schmidt the runner-up (James Cook University); and
• The ASFB video competition in science communication, won by Qiaz Hua (University of Adelaide). 

Congress-related student awards sponsored by the FRDC included:

• The John Lake Award for best graphical abstract, won by Jessica Bolin (Senior Winner; University of the Sunshine Coast) and Clement Ng (Junior Winner; University of Melbourne); and
• The Gilbert P. Whitley Memorial Student Award for best oral presentation, won by Kynan Hartog-Burnett (Senior Winner; James Cook University) and Adrienne Gooden (Junior Winner; Flinders University).

Several additional student awards were presented as part of the congress, sponsored by the Harry Butler Institute including:

• WFC Oral Presentation, won by Patrick Nicolle (University of New South Wales);
• WFC Speed Presentation, won by Mary Grace Sedanza (Nagasaki University); and 
• WFC Video Competition, won by Lola Coussau (Université du Québec à Rimouski).