2025 Annual Meeting of North American Sturgeon and Paddlefish Society
Nelson, British Columbia, Canada – The Prestige Lakeside Resort
September 21-25, 2025
The North American Sturgeon and Paddlefish Society (NASPS) invites you to attend our 2025 annual meeting in Nelson, British Columbia on September 21-25. We are excited to be offering an in-person meeting, providing a forum for sturgeon and paddlefish professionals to discuss new and emerging research geared toward several themes including conservation, restoration, and sustainable management. The 2025 annual meeting will be held at The Prestige Lakeside Resort. The welcome social will begin Sunday evening September 21st followed by presentations September 22nd – 24th. Our banquet will be held the evening of September 24th. Planning for workshop(s) is underway for Thursday morning, September 25th.
This meeting is designed to provide great amenities within your registration cost. Your registration cost includes a welcome social on Sunday, September 21st (5-8 PM), all lunches, and a poster session (6:00-7:00 PM) and dinner banquet (7:00-10:00 PM) on Wednesday, September 24th.
Location: The Prestige Lakeside Resort in Nelson, British Columbia is located along the shore of Kootenay Lake with views of the Selkirk Mountains. It is a 3.5-hour drive (~155 miles) from the Spokane, WA airport, a 50-minute drive (~45 miles) from the Trail, BC airport, or a 35-minute drive (~28 miles) from the Castlegar, BC airport.
A room block is available at The Prestige Lakeside Resort, and the room rate is $170 plus tax (CAD) for city view and $210 plus tax (CAD) for lake view. Please call The Prestige Lakeside Resort to reserve your room (250)352-7222. The room block will be released August 17, 2025.
Abstract Submission: Abstract submission is open! Please submit your abstract using the following link. Note, there is no option to present virtually; all presentations will be in-person at the meeting.
Abstract Submission has been extended to August 1, 2025.
Workshop: NASPS is offering a workshop “Lake and NOW FISH MAPPING with Consumer Sonar and BioBase: Features, Methods, and Field Demo” on Thursday Septmber 25th from 8:00 AM to 1:30 PM. The automated cloud mapping platform BioBase (biobasemaps.com) is used by Lake Management researchers, professionals, and citizen scientists across the globe for a broad range of mapping needs ranging from fish and fish habitat to tracking invasive aquatic plant growth and management, and even mapping storm water storage volume. In May 2025, in partnership with Echoview Software (Echoview.com), BioBase released a fish mapping layer called EcoFish™. This workshop will cover a classroom demonstration of all major features in BioBase but be primarily focused on how to use BioBase for sampling/mapping fish and fish habitat in lakes and rivers. Fortuitously, the conference center is on Kootenay Lake where we will have boats available for a field demonstration focused on equipment set up, survey protocols, and data collection. The field data collected during the demo will be uploaded to BioBase immediately after collection and the concluding hour of the workshop will be back in the classroom evaluating the map outputs.
The instructor, Ray Valley, is the President and Fisheries Biologist BioBase LLC. Ray spent the first half of his career as a Fisheries Biologist with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Passionate about lakes, fisheries, and technology, he led the development of biobasemaps.com in the 2010’s. Ray heads a small team dedicated to maintaining and enhancing BioBase for Fisheries researchers and managers. Sturgeon hold a special place in Ray’s heart and he pursues them zeal on his home water, the St. Croix River in MN.
Please use the following link to register for the workshop. The workshop will be available to the first 20 people to register.
https://forms.gle/E7WbQBGZWph247odA
Student Travel Awards: Travel awards for students to attend the NASPS 2024 annual meeting are available. See the following link for application details.
NASPS Student Travel Award 2025
Submission closes June 27, 2025.
Student Mentor Collaboration Award: The North American Sturgeon and Paddlefish Society (NASPS) is requesting applications for the NASPS Student Mentor Collaboration Award. See the following link for application details.
NASPS Student Mentor Collaboration Award 2025
Submission closes June 27, 2025.
Registration:
NASPS Regular Member $300 (USD)
NASPS Student Member ** $225 (USD)
Non-member $425 (USD)
Single Day Rate $150 (USD)
**Note, early career professionals within two years of their terminal degree can register for the meeting at the student rate.
Cancellation Policy: All refund requests must be made in writing by email to the NASPS Treasurer (naspstreasurer@gmail.com) and received no later than 5 PM PST on September 10, 2025. A total of 80% of the meeting charges will be refunded. Full refunds will be issued in the case of cancellation of a continuing education workshop. Registration transfers are possible upon request. Please email these requests to nasps@nasps-sturgeon.org.
