EAFP Council meeting. Grado, 22-23 April 2006.

EAFP Council meeting. Grado, 22-23 April 2006.

Preset: David Alderman (President), Maura Hiney (co-opted as Web Advisor), David Bruno (vice president), Steve Feist (Meetings Secretary), Ellen Ariel (Publications Officer), Paul Midtlyng (General Secretary), Sven Bergmann (Treasurer). Marco Galeotti (Chair Local Organising Committee) and Newteam (Conference Organiser Company) (22nd only).

The President opened the meeting at 0915 and welcomed Marco Galeotti as Chair of the local organising committee (LOC) for the EAFP 2007 Conference in Grado to the meeting.


1) The structure of the opening session of the EAFP Conference was discussed.

The local organising committee (LOC) was appointed, led by Prof. Marco Galeotti.

Conference dates were confirmed for 17-21 September 2007. The histopathology workshop will be held during Saturday 22
September at the Conference venue.
Evening visit options and additional tours are to be proposed by the LOC and Newteam. The LOC will act on behalf of the EAFP in negotiations with Newteam but decisions requiring funding beyond set budgets will be referred to the EAFP Council.


2) Discussions with Newteam on the draft agreement were held and suggestions for additional options for standard services were considered. Newteam are to be responsible for ensuring that technical facilities are in place for the conference venue. A website link between EAFP and Newteam will be established in order to facilitate registration. Conference logo and graphic design will be the responsibility of the LOC. The Meetings Secretary will provide a list of responsibilities and timetable for LOC.

A conference scientific committee to include LOC members MG GB (virology) and PBeraldo (bacteriology) were appointed. Further members will be appointed as required to ensure coverage of the main scientific disciplines.


3) The Grado Conference Centre visit and other facilities were visited and were deemed to be acceptable for the requirements of the conference. The LOC will develop a more detailed plan for poster displays in relation to lunch and coffee.
Options and costs for video link from small meeting room(s) to display elsewhere are to be provided by the LOC. Audio visual company options are to be provided by the LOC. Options for additional space for poster display will be investigated.

Villa Romano was found to be an excellent venue for the banquet. The LOC are to confirm that facilities are in place to accommodate up to 300 persons. The proposed civic reception venue (ca’Tullo vinery) was also ideal for purpose and the LOC will investigate sponsorship to support this event.

The Council agreed to provide support for up to 10 students. This will include conference registration, accommodation and the banquet. Applicants must be EAFP members from 2006 or earlier. It was also agreed that Keynote presenters will receive support for conference registration and banquet. Cost recovery will be based on 400 paying participants.

4) General Secretary’s report.
Communications from members on the Statutes and members handbook have been received and it was agreed that a statutes committee be established in order to review and update as appropriate with recommendations to be considered by the EAFP Council at the Spring 2007 Council meeting.

Approximately 700 members currently paid up. An additional 310 yet to pay via branch officers – have been contacted. 30 new members have joined the Association.

There have been requests for ‘What should I do?’ and Histopathology Workshop CD’s. Regarding ‘What should I do?, printing costs for the original edition were provided by the EU. It was proposed that a project group be established, to identify potential funding sources. EAFP funds will be made available to initiate this process. Update existing information and introduce new sections on cyprinid diseases. It was proposed that the head of the project group approach the
Commission on behalf of the EAFP Council to enquire about similar support from the Commission for the updated booklet.


5) Treasurers Report
There are problems with accessing the account following the transfer of responsibility to the current Treasurer. Transfer of the EAFP account from Bergen to Germany (in Euro) is proposed. Electronic re-imbursement of expenses is working successfully. Internet connection costs and subscription for the treasurer to be supported in part by the EAFP.

The Treasurer provided an update of the current financial situation including a summary of the final accounts for the 2005 conference.

7) Meeting Secretary’s report.
As a potential venue for the 2009 EAFP Conference in Prague, the Hotel Pyrimida and Congress Centre were visited. Indicative costs for the Congress Centre are to be requested and possibilities for alternative venues will also be investigated in liaison with the LOC.


8) Publication Officer’s Report.

41 submissions in last 6 months. Approximately 50% accepted. A difference between the types of contribution in the Bulletin and papers presented at the EAFP Conference has been noted, with a majority of parasitology and bacteriology reports being submitted. A system of subject editors has been established to good effect.
Their input is gratefully acknowledged and it was suggested that additional subject editors might be appointed for parasitology and bacteriology papers in particular. Additional financial support for editorial technical support was agreed.

9) President and Vice President’s reports.

Statutes review: The President tabled a draft letter for the members of the statutes committee to consider. The Council agreed to provide financial support for a single days meeting (possibly Copenhagen). The committee are to decide on when best to meet during the revision process. The Chair of the group should attend the EAFP Council meeting in Spring 2007.


10) Members Handbook

Hard copy update to be produced for 2006 (full details). It was agreed that this will be the last hard copy to be produced. The intention is to provide member contact information (without postal address) electronically by 2008. The General Secretary will liaise with D. Alderman and H. –J. Schlotfeldt for the updating of membership details with the aim to distribute the handbook with a forthcoming. Costs for this will be allocated from EAFP funds.


11) EAFP Leaflets and Website.

The leaflet has been updated. It was agreed that present administration systems for membership, website etc need updated. M. Hiney agreed to chair a project group (P. Midtlyng, E. Ariel, S. Bergmann and Nacho de Blas as members) to make proposals with a target implementation date for 1st stage in time for 1 January 2007.

It was agreed that the ‘News and Views’ section will be retained in the Bulletin but should also be included with additional items such as meetings announcements, reports and obituaries on the website.

12) Any other business.
Next meeting scheduled for 3rd October at a venue to be arranged close to Heathrow
airport. The meeting closed at 1800.

S W Feist
EAFP Meetings Secretary Action points

Action point. MG to advise on introductory presentation. Invite sponsors, Head of
veterinary service etc. Decide those to invite for opening session, reception and
Conference dinner. Single presentation at opening ceremony.

Action point. PM to provide written confirmation.

Action point. SWF to provide abstracts as pdf file and develop the programme. Newteam to arrange the printing. Deadlines provided by Newteam for provision of these. LOC to take responsibility for organising packing of conference bags.

(Action point. SWF to provide Newteam with previous registration documents for
information).

Action point. Newteam to revise list of services required, confirm with the EAFP council and develop budget accordingly. This should include an itemised listing of costs. LOC to the identify alternative options for ‘conference organisers’ for comparison and advise on options. It is anticipated that this list will form the basis for LOC responsibilities for future conferences.

Action point. Meetings secretary to amend standard contract to include annexes on list of services required and standard budget. Treasurer to represent the council in negotiations with LOC and Newteam on budget development.

Action point. SWF to confirm with LOC the agreed conference dates and request booking of the conference centre (lunches as buffet to be provided at the conference centre). MH to update website with dates and links for information on Grado.

Action point. SWF to propose after consultation with scientific committee.
Genotyping/virulence factors (Keynote possibility – OIE scientist?), ecological aspects of disease/climate change (large scale), micro scale environmental effects. ‘Standard topics of vir, bact etc.’ Update on sentience in fish/Welfare.

Action point. It was proposed that HJ Schlotfeldt be approached to form a project group, to identify potential funding sources. EAFP funds will be made available to initiate this process. Update existing information and introduce new sections on cyprinid diseases.

Action point. SB to provide a detailed breakdown of the EAFP accounts for the next Council Meeting including the 2004 accounts.

Action point. SWF to ask LOC to investigate alternative venues in Prague or even outside.

Action point. EA to contact new subject editor for bacteriology to update on responsibilities. Action point. DJA to finalise the draft letter and send to the statutes committee. Circulate to the Council by the end of February and following incorporation of comments send to the committee as soon as possible thereafter. Set of recommendations 15 March 2007 in
order to give the Council time to consider at the spring meeting. Release to the EAFP website for the membership for comment at the general assembly at the 2007 conference.

Action point. MH to place a notice on the website calling for comments from the membership for input to the statutes committee.

EAFP General Assembly Thursday 15th September 2005, Fredericksberg, Copenhagen

EAFP General Assembly Thursday 15th September 2005, Fredericksberg, Copenhagen

The general assembly was attended by approximately 50 members. Reports were presented by Meetings Secretary, General Secretary and Treasurer. The details of these reports are provided in the Council minutes of 11th September.

Treasurers report. Barry Hill noted the balance was healthy, and asked if an increase in membership fees could be considered. Diane Elliott commented that the transfer of funds electronically was expensive.

Publication officer’s report. Barry Hill enquired if we could move back to rapid communication of articles with preliminary investigations with a 4 page limit and not become a second rate journal. The President replied that the news and views section where these articles could be placed was not used by members.
Action: The council have recommended a 6 page limit and the Publication Officer is currently introducing further changes which are detailed in the Council minutes of 11th September.

Eric Hudson suggested an electronic version of the bulletin. This is already under investigation by the Publication Officer. The President reported that the Council has agreed to pay for some assistance with Bulletin editorial work and will be looking at all costs including an on line journal. The current feedback suggests the printed journal is preferred.

Guisseppe Bovo asked for ‘fast tools’ for communication.

Olga Haenen requested more review of the EAFP bulletin. The President summarised that the Bulletin and web were our two main areas for communication.

EAFP statutes. The council have agreed for a group to look at the statutes and consider if they should be revised. The president reminded members that the statutes were 26 years old and had served us well. Three members were identified during the council meeting of the 11 September. Additional people will be asked to help. Neils Olesen asked if junior members could participate. The membership were asked to vote if they wanted to wait for this review or consider the proposed changes for the Statutes already identified to be discussed, the vote was 27 to 2 to wait the review from this group.

Malta Conference. The General Secretary informed the members of the current situation regarding the finances of the conference budget which followed by the death of Zarco Peric and the financial difficulties that occurred with the local agency. Legal advice indicates that we may not win a court case in Malta to recover the conference profit and therefore at this stage we will not pursue the claim.

EAFP Council Meeting 11th September 2005, Fredericksberg, Copenhagen

EAFP Council Meeting 11th September 2005, Fredericksberg, Copenhagen

Agenda

Present : David Alderman (President), David Bruno (Vice President), Francesc Padros (Meetings Secretary), Paul Midtlyng (General Secretary), Brit Hjeltnes (Treasurer), Maura Hiney (co-opted as web advisor), Steve Feist (new Meetings Secretary), Sven Bergmann (new Treasurer)

The President opened the meeting at 0940 and welcomed the new council members, Sven Bergmann and Steve Feist. The outgoing council members Brit Hjeltnes and Francesc Padros were thanked for their hard work during the last 4 years.

1. Minutes of previous meeting
2. Matters arising
Points requiring action will be dealt with under the current agenda. The general secretary asked
if the budget for 2006 could be included.

3. Council Officers Reports
a. Meetings Secretary.
Second announcement was circulated with minor changes, including changes to the date
of the histopathology workshop (17th
September).

Scientific structure of conference – The electronic submission of manuscripts was successful with considerable saving in postage costs. The meetings secretary reported that he had received little comment regarding the scientific structure of the conference and slow feedback from referees.
Action: A scientific committee would be formed for Grado, and organised by the meetings secretary. This will comprise meetings secretary as chairperson, up to 3 local organisers, 2-3 other EAFP members (which can be council members). Guidelines will be drafted by the meetings secretary with the following terms of reference: establish criteria for grouping abstracts, arrange review of submitted abstracts, develop structure of conference (subjects), decide on oral / poster presentations, identify chairpersons, identify and contact keynote speakers, inform participants and develop new guidelines
for workshop organisers. It was proposed that the scientific committee could be combined with the (proposed) editorial board, this was not discussed further. The costs of the scientific committee will be included in the conference budget.

Meetings secretary received 25% of presentations between January - April, late submission were refused 2 weeks after the given deadline. Only 4 keynotes speakers were included in the programme. Around 200 oral papers had been accepted, 280 posters.
Action: Agreed to reduce the number of oral sessions in 2007 to approximately 150, as a consequence the number of posters will be expected to reach 330.

Workshops - Workshop organisers will be given clear guidelines as it was apparent some had resulted in a collection of papers (see above).
Action: Meetings secretary to draft guidelines.

Study visit – after discussion, it was agreed to continue with the study tour on the Friday after the formal conference.
Keynote papers – 4 keynote papers will be published in the bulletin assuming deadlines are met. Workshop reports printed in the bulletin will be limited in length.
Action: Publications officer will liaise with keynotes and advise on deadlines.

Programme books – discussed options for and against printing the programme abstracts or making abstracts available on a CD. Overall the retention of the printed books was recommended.
Action: Meetings Secretary to take this option forward for 2007.

b. Treasurer
The finances up to end 2004 were reviewed. Income was identified as static. We agreed to continue to use the Norwegian Banks for EAFP accounts for this financial year. The meetings secretary asked for a breakdown of the bulletin expenses.
Action: Council requested additional information to present at the General Assembly, Treasurer to provide a breakdown of Bulletin expenses to council. A professional audit
was recommended for the future (Treasurer to action)

c. General Secretary
The current membership number is 1105. The General Secretary noted membership had declined slightly since 2003.

d. Publications Officer
Publication officer received 89 papers for the bulletin in 2004, 25% were rejected often due to language difficulties. Approximately 40 manuscripts are in progress at any one time. The number of papers published in issues 1-4 for 2005 are 7, 6, 6 and 8 respectively. The publication officer identified that her secretary was occupied for 6 days per month with the bulletin, the cost was 21700 Euro. The publication officer’s time amounted to 11900 Euro over the same time period. After discussion it was agreed to allocate 10000 Euro to allow the publication officer to employ somebody to cover her
secretary’s time that she spent on the bulletin. This cost will be met from current funds.
Action: Review of expenditure to be carried forward and discussed at next Council meeting.

Bulletin. The council suggested that papers longer than 6 pages are directed to an alternative journal, although the aim is to maintain flexibility.
Action: Publication Officer to redraft the guidelines regarding submission.

Editorial board. A specific editorial board will be formed comprising publication officer president, vice president and general secretary, although all council are expected to have editorial responsibility with regard to refereeing papers.
Action: Publication Officer to draft terms of reference.
e. Vice President and President.
The reports from the President and Vice President were combined. They included, roles as chairman, preparing agendas, dealing with some of the correspondence, preparation of minutes, organisation of the student awards for the conference and maintaining contact with council.

4. Conference: a. Branch officer awards – awards were agreed for the Canadian and Swedish branch officers. Signed certificates will be presented during the banquet.
b. Poster award team – Schering-Plough offered to sponsor this award, after discussion it was agreed to divide the money and make 5 awards. The following will be invited to select the winning posters, Peter Smith, Inger Dalsgaard, representative from Schering-Plough and one other.
Action: President will acknowledge this support and present awards at the banquet.

5. Publications
HJ Schlotfeldt has offered to proof read a new version of ‘What Shall I do, freshwater version. A completely new version was proposed but would be subject to funding.
Action: President to discuss this with HJ Schlotfeldt and the opportunities for funding. The Vice President was asked to assist.

6. EAFP statutes.
The statues have been in place since 1979 with the aim of retaining flexibility without over-burdening the organisation with bureaucracy. Members were asked to comment on some provisional changes and comments were received from 3 members. Following discussion we have agreed that a group will be formed to consider if the current statues and operational procedures should be revised.
Action: A committee comprising HJ Schlotfeldt, Inger Dalsgaard and Barry Hill were agreed. Two other members will be approached. They will consider the current statutes and report their comments to the spring Council meeting in 2007. It was agreed that no funding could be provided for meetings etc.

7. Web publication.
The possibilities of using the web to publish the Bulletin were discussed. Overall it was agreed that we will not publish an electronic version of the bulletin but will review this in the future and will seek members views.

8. Electronic payments. Discussed options for electronic payments of fees, maintaining a secure on line database of membership details with the aim of reducing costs. Credit card payments were available, generally for people joining mid year.
Action: president, treasurer, publication officer and web advisor to investigate how this
might be achieved.

9. EAFP handbook. Discussed the biannual publication of the EAFP handbook. We agreed that this was useful for members but we did not conclude if we are printing a new version in 2006?
Action: council to make final decision at next council meeting

10. Membership fees. The General Secretary proposed an increase in membership fees. After discussion this was rejected for the coming year.
Action: General Secretary to advise branch officers regarding fee collection for 2006 in October 2005.

11. Problem Branch Officers
A review of all branch officers was completed; one branch officer has performed badly over several years with late payments.
Action: President and General Secretary will invite the individual to resign.
12. Membership database, status, problems
13. Matters for General Assembly
Reports will be given by Treasurer, Meetings Secretary, General Secretary and Publications Officer.
The President will discuss the forward look review of the EAFP with regard to the Bulletin and the revision of the statutes.
EAFP members will be informed of the financial loss incurred following the Malta conference.

14. Council Membership – members to take action to identify and talk to potential candidates

15. Any other business – Publicity leaflet - an amended leaflet was circulated.
Action: president will update and circulate file to Council and branch officers. It was proposed that the branch officers are identified by country and email to save space.

General Secretary suggested we arrange some ‘phone meetings’ to discuss council issues. See
minutes of 17th September.

Histopathology CD – council agreed to fund the production and distribution of the CD from the
histopathology workshop for 2005.

Date and location of next meetings

A Council meeting will take place in Grado 20-23 April 2006, Maura was asked to attend.
Action: the meetings secretary will discuss with local organisers to confirm dates.

A Council meeting is planned probably after the OIE conference in Bergen 4-7 September 2006.
Action: President to confirm dates when the conference programme has been announced.

A council meeting will take place in April / May 2007 at which the report from the “Forward look” committee will be considered.

The council will visit the Prague conference site in spring 2008.

EAFP 2009 conference planning meeting

Monday 12th September 2005, Fredericksberg, Copenhagen, 1230


Present: David Alderman (President), David Bruno (vice president), Francesc Padros (meetings secretary), Paul Midtlyng (general secretary), Steve Feist (new meetings secretary) and Iva Dykova

Purpose: Review the proposal from the Czech Republic for the 2009 conference to be held in Prague. After discussion it was agreed to formally accept the proposal. Iva was thanked for her work in preparing the proposal.

Action: Iva will provide information on a second option regarding hotel / location at the next council meeting with some more information regarding costs.

EAFP General Assembly
Thursday 15th September 2005, Fredericksberg, Copenhagen, 1600 pm

The general assembly was attended by approximately 50 members. Reports were presented by Meetings Secretary, General Secretary and Treasurer. The details of these reports are provided in the Council minutes of 11th September.

Treasurers report. Barry Hill noted the balance was healthy, and asked if an increase in membership fees could be considered. Diane Elliott commented that the transfer of funds electronically was expensive.

Publication officer’s report. Barry Hill enquired if we could move back to rapid communication of articles with preliminary investigations with a 4 page limit and not become a second rate journal.
The President replied that the news and views section where these articles could be placed was not used by members.
Action: The council have recommended a 6 page limit and the Publication Officer is currently introducing further changes which are detailed in the Council minutes of 11th September.

Eric Hudson suggested an electronic version of the bulletin. This is already under investigation by the Publication Officer. The President reported that the Council has agreed to pay for some assistance with Bulletin editorial work and will be looking at all costs including an on line journal. The current feedback suggests the printed journal is preferred.

Guisseppe Bovo asked for ‘fast tools’ for communication.

Olga Haenen requested more review of the EAFP bulletin. The President summarised that the Bulletin and web were our two main areas for communication.

EAFP statutes. The council have agreed for a group to look at the statutes and consider if they should be revised. The president reminded members that the statutes were 26 years old and had served us well. Three members were identified during the council meeting of the 11 September.
Additional people will be asked to help. Neils Olesen asked if junior members could participate.
The membership were asked to vote if they wanted to wait for this review or consider the proposed changes for the Statutes already identified to be discussed, the vote was 27 to 2 to wait the review from this group.

Malta Conference. The General Secretary informed the members of the current situation regarding the finances of the conference budget which followed by the death of Zarco Peric and the financial difficulties that occurred with the local agency. Legal advice indicates that we may not win a court case in Malta to recover the conference profit and therefore at this stage we will not pursue the claim.

EAFP Council Meeting
Saturday 17th September 2005, Fredericksberg, Copenhagen, 08:30am

Present : David Alderman (President), David Bruno (Vice President), Paul Midtlyng (General Secretary), Steve Feist (Meetings Secretary), Sven Bergmann (Treasurer)

Agenda

PANDA. This item was an addition to the prepared agenda. Barry Hill attended the council meeting from 0830-0915 and asked the council to consider how the EAFP and PANDA could work together.
The discussion covered; areas that might be funded by EU at the end of the 3 year support, how the membership might benefit from networking with PANDA, the numbers registered with PANDA (220) and a comment that the EAFP database had apparently been used despite our policy of not releasing members information.

The President commented that we have a link to the PANDA web site. The treasurer noted that PANDA gives advice, and the EAFP does not.

2. Matters arising from previous meeting (11/9/05)
3. Matters arising from General Assembly
Vice president suggested we consider a different forum for the General Assembly.
Action: Meetings Secretary will consider possibilities for Grado. We agreed to publish an
agenda before the General Assembly.

4. Treasurers report. We agreed to move to Microsoft Money to facilitate itemised reporting of the EAFP accounts. We also agreed that the retiring Treasurer will finalise the conference budget and the new treasurer will take over next year. The accounts for 2006 would be made available of the EAFP web site, reviewed in April and submitted for approval at the
next General Assembly.
5. Phone conference. Difficulties in answering emails were identified by some council members (11 September) when regularly out of their office.
Action: We agreed that relevant council members should receive circulating emails, and we would hold a phone conference every second month (hosted by VESO). The General Secretary will prepare a timetable and circulate points for discussion beforehand.
6. EAFP statutes. The group considering the statue review will be given Terms of reference.
Action: General Secretary to consider the points discussed during the council meeting from 11 September, draft Terms of Reference and circulate to council for discussion (phone conference). Ruth Kongtorp had agreed to assist with this group. The council suggested she acts as chairperson. The General Secretary will check if this is acceptable, a reserve member of this group was identified.

7. Copenhagen conference
Francesc Padros was thanked again for a successful conference.
Feedback from members after the conference was very good.
See comments carried forward to Grado conference

The General Secretary will write to DIS formally thanking them for their work after the final
budget has been received.

8. Any other business The points raised by Barry Hill (PANDA) were briefly discussed. We agreed that we would continue to have a link to their web site.

Grado conference. We agreed to continue with a study visit but might move to a half day.
Action: to be discussed during spring meeting.
Our standard contract will be discussed with the local agency.
Action: point for General Secretary
It was requested by some members that transport from Venice to Grado should be organised.
The council agreed to consider the practicalities of providing one or two bus pick ups before and after the conference.
Action: Meetings Secretary

Council will allow 2 days for council business in Grado.
Histopathology workshop. This will be organised for the Saturday following the conference.
Poster awards team will be appointed before the conference
Reduce the poster session time slightly as we expect lunch to be provided in the poster area
Feedback from members after the conference was very good.
Maintain lunch with poster session
Provide clearer information if there were room changes within the programme.
Increase name size on badges
Several T shirt requests were received
Ensure members know that lunch is provided

Editorial board. One additional member was proposed to cover Parasitology.

The meeting was concluded at 10:45

Prague 4th - 5th December 2004

Minutes EAFP Council Prague, 4-5 December 2004

Present: David Alderman (President), David Bruno (Vice-President), Brit Hjeltnes (treasurer), Paul Midtlyng (general secretary), Francesc Padros (meetings secretary), Maura Hiney (co-opted member to council as web advisor)

Due to weather problem the President was delayed. The Vice President welcomed everybody and opened the meeting at 0930. The President joined the meeting at 1130.

The minutes of the 17-18 April were reviewed. Action points appear in the current agenda.

1. Matters arising. These are covered in the agenda.

2. Council Members reports. The general secretary reported that membership had declined slightly, but this was in line with losses in years where no conference was held.
85 members had been removed as non-paying, 66 new members have joined since January 2004. Two Branch Officers have not transferred the 2004 fees nor informed the general secretary about their member’s payment status. Bulletin distribution has consequently been discontinued to these branches, and to other non-paying members.
Action: The General Secretary will intensively contact with the non-reporting BO’s to obtain further information, and will issue reminders to still-non-payers, allowing for credit card payment.
The Treasurer predicted a deficit for this financial year. The increasing costs of the bulletin and issues arising from the Malta conference were the contributing factors.
Action: the Treasurer will continue to advise the council.

The Vice President raised the issue of the handbook cover on behalf of one member. The colours of the handbook cover had changed (slightly) from 2002 to 2004. A request for additional leaflets was made.
Action: it was agreed to discuss the Handbook cover with the printers prior to the 2006 edition. New leaflets will be prepared for September 2005.

The Publications Officer provided details of the submissions for the bulletin, the rejection rate and papers published. Peer reviewing and workload are impacting on the time available to type set each issue.
Action: the council will review the workload and recommendations regarding the work balance of the council. We agreed to add bulletin contents to the web site as soon as these were available.

Web advisor reported the positions vacant area on the web is being used.
Action: we agreed an annual note in the bulletin to remind members of the EAFP web page. The EAFP web site will be revised during 2005.

The council discussed options for a conference in the Czech Republic for 2009 with Iva Dykova and Jiri Lom, who joined the Council for lunch.

3. Council Meeting Attendance. New Council members will be invited to attend the pre-conference council meeting on the 11 September.

4. Copenhagen conference
Budget. A revised budget was agreed. The registration fees, which will include lunches, were set at

Category Early (DKK) Late (DKK)
Student member 3000 3500
Non-member student 3500 4000
EAFP Member 4000 4600
Non-member 4500 5200
Accompanying person 570 570

A proposal to move the post conference council meeting of the 17th to the 16th September was considered in order to save time and hotel costs. Decision was postponed pending the detailed provisions and time schedule the study tour. It was agreed to drop the spring council meeting unless any urgent issues come up in the meantime.
Action: the Meetings Secretary to discuss the new budget with the local organiser..

Organisation. Second announcement. Action: the Meetings Secretary will draft the second announcement using the themes agreed and forward to the publications officer and web advisor for inclusion in issue one and the web page. The General Secretary will copy to branch officers via email.

Proposals for 15 workshops had been received by the Meetings Secretary, and following discussion the 3 PANDA proposals were combined. Some proposals might be combined into an oral session. The histopathology workshop 'Reproduction and early life stage fish pathology' will be held on the 17 September 2005.
Action: the meetings secretary will advise on the programme structure at a later date.

Student Awards. A budget was agreed for student awards for the Copenhagen conference. As in previous years students will have to be members in 2004. It was agreed to give preference to students in receipt of a grant, rather than students receiving a salary.
Action: the Vice President will draft a note for issue one and forward to the general secretary, details will go onto the EAFP web page in January 2005.

General Assembly. Action: A maximum of 1.5 hours will be timetabled for the general assembly and will currently cover council reports, statute proposals, 2007 conference details, new council introductions. Abstracts book versus CD options for 2007 will be presented for members views.
Conference book. We agreed to print the abstracts as a book for 2005. Action: we will suggest that in 2007 the abstracts are only available on a CD.

6. Malta conference. The financial dispute with the conference agency has not been resolved and the general secretary gave oral information as to the status of legal advice. It may be required that a 2001-2003 council member visit Malta to discuss the case with our lawyers.
Action: The Council will discuss and approve any further action that may incur additional costs.

7. Statute Revision. Council Posts and Responsibilities. The general secretary presented possible changes regarding the amendments to the EAFP statutes. Further discussion is pending and if necessary we will raise this issue during the general assembly in September.
Action: The General Secretary will circulate the revised draft to the council for further consideration. Proposed changes will be placed on the EAFP web page around August 2005.

8. Council Elections. The treasurer and meetings secretary have decided not to stand for re-election in September 2005. The president requested a second term.
Action: Nominations for both posts will be requested in issue 1. The vice president will locate the template and forward to the general secretary.

9. Council and BO award badges. Awards were considered for 5 branch officers. The possibility of awarding making an honorary award was discussed. Action: The vice president will check if branch officer awards had already been given and will inform the general secretary. No decision was made regarding a new honorary member. Additional awards may be identified for the conference. We agreed to purchase 15 branch officer badges (60 Euro each), and 10 council badges (90 Euro each). The president will arrange this with HJ Schlotfeldt.

10. Membership. The president informed the council that the numbering system used since the formation of the EAFP had been continued for the handbook following complaints regarding the introduction of a new system in the general secretary
membership database. For the present time the old style number system will be used until a new system is approved.

11. Training courses. Pauline Munro from FRS Aberdeen asked the council to consider if they could offer training courses for certification of the fish health inspectors. In view that the EAFP, in the interests of members, runs without any full time staff or secretariat we could not consider taking on the responsibilities that would be necessary if we were to act as an awarding body for such a scheme. Action: The Council agreed to give support to FRS on the question of Fish Health Inspectors, but could not to be directly involved.
Action: The president will reply.

12. Any other business. What Shall I do? The freshwater edition has sold out and there is some demand but no big rush. Our former president (HJ) has agreed to be in charge of a new edition if the council so wishes. The council had mixed ideas on a new edition, but agreed to review again if a grant covering the printing costs can be obtained. Sales of
the marine version were low.

Iva Dykova was thanked for help in booking the hotel and arranging the meeting room.

13. Date of next meeting – Copenhagen 11th
September 2005 for old council. Post conference council meeting 17 September (provisional).

Copenhagen 17th - 18th April 2004

Minutes of Council meeting held at the SAS Radisson Falkoner Hotel, Fredericksberg,
Copenhagen, 17-18th April 2004

Present: David Alderman, David Bruno, Brit Hjeltnes, Ellen Ariel, Paul Midtlyng, Francesc Padros, Maura Hiney

The President opened the meeting at 09:00 and welcomed the EAFP Council.

Copenhagen meeting September 2005
Inger Dalsgård, Lone Madsen and Kurt Buchmann joined the meeting and will form (with Jens Laurits
Larsen) the local organising committee (LO) for the 2005 meeting in Copenhagen.

The council agreed that the committee should remain small but were happy to have co-opted people to assist as necessary. Inger also informed the Council of the support of the Danish Institute for Fisheries Research for the Conference.

The local organising committee were informed that the EAFP would take responsibility for any conference overspend, although the local committee would be responsible for keeping costs within an agreed budget. In any case, unplanned expenses should be agreed with the Council in advance.

A memorandum of understanding will be issued to the local committee. It was agreed to appoint DIS as the local agent.

A representative from the SAS Radisson Falkoner hotel conference centre and a another from DIS joined the council meeting at 11am and provided a tour of the conference facilities. We agreed in principle to hiring the whole of the conference centre, since an attractive discount package was offered. The hotel proposed a package that would include lunches and audio visual equipment. The cost included one AV technician, the Council with the LO committee will discuss if extra staff are necessary.

The lobby could be used for registration, the Falconer auditorium for the poster session and the Falconer Hall for plenary and large sessions. Additional rooms would be used for parallel sessions. Requests for additional rooms for other meetings outside of the Conference period and not organised directly by the EAFP will be charged directly to the organisers of such meetings by the hotel and paid for before use. The MS will encourage people to book meeting rooms early.

DIS presented a provisional budget and prices for other hotels, and a formal agreement document for the 2005 conference. The Council to prepare comments. To reduce costs of the conference the council will review the level of upport for keynote speakers.

A provisional programme for the Study Tour included a study visit to a trout farm. The proposed social programme includes a visit to Tivoli Gardens on the 13th September. Inger suggested that the welcome reception could be held on Sunday at the University building with the Civic reception in the City Hall (Tuesday) and the banquet on Thursday.

The Council agreed to set the break-even point for conference costs of 400 delegates for the 2005 conference. All payments will be in DKK

The provision of photocopying facilities at previous conferences have been high. The conference the centre’s business unit can provide a copying facility, but only Council and LO approving costs can be charged to the conference.. The MS will encourage individuals to bring sufficient copies of required paperwork to help reduce this high cost. Council and DIS explored the possibility of sending the presentations to the AV team in advance. The coffee break budget might include only coffee and tea. The Council asked that water or soft drinks should be available. Complementary food and beverages
for these breaks could also be funded through sponsorship.

The LO indicated that there was support for a Danish theme for one session within the scientific programme which the council could take forward. LO will indicate whom they might invite to attend (minister?) Inger will respond.

The council agreed that we would not provide extra facilities for delegates to check personal emails, an Internet Café facility being available in the lobby and internet connections are available in theconference hotel rooms.
The LO will prepare a budget estimate for the local logo.
The first announcement will be drafted for the June bulletin. EA to prepare.

FP raised the idea of having ‘special keynotes’ or ‘guest lectures’ devoted to topics such as other marine animals (mammals, reptiles) or other topics (safety and fish) that normally are not included as main sections in the programme, but might be welcome to most of the delegates. Other provisional topics for 2005 might include a session on cetacean pathology, zoonosis and effects of pollution.

The histopathology workshop was provisionally planned for the 17th September pm (12-6) within the University. DB will confirm at a later date.

Minutes
The VP offered to help draft future minutes with MS. The council agreed that the minutes will be placed on the web and a note placed in the bulletin to say they available. The VP suggested that some of the preparation of the minutes could be organised beforehand. We agreed the minutes from the meeting represent the notes on issues discussed but also that it would help in constructing the minutes to have reports from council members submitted electronically.


President report
The sturgeon workshop (from Rhodes conference) will be published by FAO as a CD, and it was hoped the EAFP logo will be added to the cover. DA to confirm. Copies could be made available to all members if funds were available. The president will remind Council to book their flights early for all Council meetings.

Malta conference
The success of the conference was agreed but the final budget with Intertravel had some outstanding issues. We agreed that there should be a request for an immediate refund of the deposit paid by the EAFP to secure the hotel rooms. In addition there should be a refund of all monies not agreed as part of the deal with the agents. Paul will scan and circulate our memorandum of understanding to council for comment.

Grado conference 2007
FP presented his findings on the 2007 conference facilities. The council were informed that the meeting rooms were suitable for our requirements. The MS will inform the LO in Grado that they must not enter into any formal agreement with any agency until this is cleared with Council, probably in 2006.

Bulletin
EA has received 71 manuscripts between October 03-March 04 and has found the work load high. It was suggested that papers are divided so those of direct interest and from EAFP members have priority, although papers are welcome from any scientist. There had been problems with the compatibility of files in Denmark and the UK and postal charges were increasing, DA to prepare a short note on the costs of the bulletin plus a budget option for the future.

Financial report
BH provided a short report on the financial situation, which remains healthy.

The meeting was closed at 7pm


Present on 18th
April: David Alderman, David Bruno, Ellen Ariel, Francesc Padros, Brit Hjeltnes (to 10:00)

General secretary report (received by email)
Three branches (Chile, Iceland and Malta) appear not to have paid to date, whereas other branches had
failed to inform the GS.

25 branches have provided their membership update for 2004 and another handfull have paid but not
yet updated their membership lists. Gen. Sec. will chase information for update of the member list. Out
of the large branches, only Chile is still missing, but the Chile BO has reported that collection of fees is
on-going. Paul will send a reminder to delayed branch officers, warning that the distribution of the
Bulletin will be stopped after Issue 2 for those branches and members that have not paid their 2004 fee.

As of date, 62 members have left the EAFP since the Malta conference, whereas we have 37 new
members. This represents a normal pattern following conference years. The total membership count as
of date is 1197, which means that we likely again will reach 1200 by the year ending.


Members Handbook
A provisional timetable for the 2004 handbook was agreed. The membership codes are currently not
used and we agreed to remove them.

Action: Maura to change the membership form on the web
Paul to email branch officers with current membership records and advise on changes by mid May. David B to check and update the history of the EAFP and to circulate to Council for comment Files should be with Stewart ideally for printing in time for mailing with issue 3 (June).

Ellen to notify Stewart that we are planning a handbook this year.

DA and DB will proof read the handbook as necessary.

Paul to inform BO’s that the membership codes are no longer used.

Printed conference abstracts v CD for 2005
Following discussion it was agreed that the option of adding the abstracts to a CD for distribution at
the conference represents a cheaper option than the current A4 book. In addition there was an
advantage in terms of weight for members to carry. Overall it was agreed that we might offer the CD
for all members and the handbook at cost. This decision is pending. Inger will provide more detail on
the printing costs and CD costs and the savings that might be made. Another possible change can be to
reduce the shape of the book of abstracts, as well as the characters and add two or three abstracts per
page. To be discussed with LO.


Web advisor
It was agreed to formally propose a change to the EAFP statutes in 2005. If this is agreed by the
General Assembly at the conference then a new council post of EAFP web advisor will commence at
that point. The normal cycle of elections will cover President, Treasurer and Meetings Secretary in
September 2005.

Meetings secretary
FP informed the Council that he might not stand for election in September 2005.

Date of next meeting
After discussion it was agreed that the EAS meeting in Barcelona was too close to the April meeting
and too far away from the Copenhagen Conference to be a suitable time for the next Council meeting,
since we had agreed to combine the autumn and spring meeting to reduce costs. Looking at possible
sites the concept of holding the next Council meeting in Prague in early December 2004 was agreed.
VP will contact Iva Dykova to discuss this possibility and arrange a suitable venue.

The meeting was closed at 11am