Dave Schindler rocking the v-neck at the Experimental Lakes Area, circa 1979, our first Rigler award winner (1984). Photo credit D.F. Brakke via ASLO website.

Who's your favourite Canadian Limnologist? Someone that's made a lasting contribution to limnology in Canada and around the world. It's a well represented list so far, and we're looking to add another for 2016. You can find all the details on what's required for your nomination here, as well as information about our current recipient and Frank Rigler, whom the award honours.

Thanks to NRC research press for sponsoring this award and helping us honour our very best!

A number of our activities are outlined here, in the most recent issue of The Current. Not only have we published a new newsletter, but we're working on translating the static content on the website, helping get things sorted out for upcoming Limnology-related meetings in Canada during 2016, including CCFFR in St. John's, and the IAGLR meeting in Guelph.

And, our business meeting minutes from the 2015 conference in Ottawa are now posted. They will be voted on and accepted at the business meeting in St. John's. Please review and send any necessary revisions to comms@socanlimnol.ca.

Don't forget, we're always happy to hear from you.

All the best, and happy field season!

To overcome these above constraints, faculty from Carleton University, Guelph University and Queen’s University collaborated to design and run a 2 1⁄2 week practical Restricted Occupational Diving course recently approved by the Ontario Ministry of Labour (July 2013) and accredited by the Diving Certification Board of Canada (January 2014). This new course trains the academic research community (i.e., fourth-year undergraduate students, Master or Ph.D. students, and Lab Technicians and Faculty) to conduct scientific dives in compliance with Ontario regulations. Upon successful completion of the course, including all formative and summative activities, students will be able to design, develop, and illustrate a comprehensive research dive program in accordance to their stated research objectives, and the Occupational Health and Safety Act Ontario Regulation 629/94 Diving Operations.

Specific learning outcomes include:

●  Describe safe diving practices as a (a) diver, (b) safety diver, and (c) dive tender in accordance to the Occupational Health and Safety Act Ontario Regulation 629/94 Diving Operations.

●  Explain diving physics, physiology, equipment, diving hazards, communication and rigging as these relate to the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) Z275.5.

●  Design safe non-decompression multi-day research dive-plans using Canadian DCIEM dive tables.

●  Compare the advantages and disadvantages of various sampling methodologies used by research divers (e.g., transects, quadrats, benthic sampling, habitat profiling, sediment coring, behavioural observations, photo stratification, video transects) to address different research goals.

●  Choose appropriate statistical models to analyze complex data sets typically obtained from scientific research diving activities.

For more information on the course and to register, contact Dr. Nigel Waltho, Carleton University, tel: 613-520-2600 x8764, email: nigel.waltho@carleton.ca, or Dr. Geof Hall, Queen’s University, tel 613-533-3412, email: gh26@queensu.ca.

We will keep our discounted 1-year membership rates active until February 14th, 2015. Our 2-year subscriptions remain our best value.

While you're registering, please don't forget to make a donation in support of our Rob Peters Award- this award recognizes the best student paper in the field each year, and is made possible by the generous donations of our members.

Welcome to our new members in 2015!

The meeting kicked off early for some with a workshop on the IISD-Experimental Lakes Area, discussing progress in the first year as an independent entity, as well as upcoming field courses and proposed experiments.

"The Smoker", which is the annual mixer that officially kicks off the meeting, was fantastic. Lots of great conversation as friends and colleagues come together and meet again.

This year had a strong set of presentations, and started off in fine form with plenary lectures by Martin Krkhosek (Stevenson Lecturer, U of T), Daniel Schindler (Rigler Awardee, University of Washington), our very own Alison Derry (UQAM), Anne Phelps (DFO) and a delightfully insightful and provocative talk by Jake Rice (DFO senior scientist). The regular sessions then went into full swing, with SCL-led sessions on Multiple Stressors, Dynamics of Aquatic Nutrients and Algal Blooms, and the Experimental Lakes Area. In all, 213 contributed talks and 72 posters were presented over three days.

Last, the organizing committee held a "student success workshop" with panel discussions on a range of topics, from getting published, science communication and outreach, scoring that job or next grad position, and working at the interface of science and policy. Judging by the reviews on twitter, this was one of the most talked about sessions at the conference, and was very well received.

Finally, a big THANK YOU to the Local Organizing Committee this year (John Lark, Steve Cooke), and the army of volunteers who made it all happen, as well as the generous sponsors and donors (listed in the program), bot those who exhibited and those who supported the conference in so many other ways.

Looking forward to next year in St. John's! Until then...

The 2015 Frank Rigler Award, the highest honour bestowed by our society recognizing significant achievement in the field of Limnology in Canada or by a Canadian is awarded to Daniel Schindler. Daniel will present a plenary talk at the upcoming meeting with CCFFR in Ottawa, January 8-11. You can read more about the Frank Rigler award  here.

The 2015 Rob Peters Award, recognizing the best student paper published in the previous calendar year in the field of Limnology by a Canadian student or student studying in Canada, is Sophie Chiasson-Gould. Sophie will also present a summary of her work at the conference. You can read more about the Rob Peters award and Sophie's award-winning publication  here.

Congratulations to both our recipients!

Highlights from this issue:
-SCL on the Rise (President's message)
-Research Highlight: NSERC CREATE Mine of Knowledge
-Editorial: Accusations of Bias No Smol Matter
-Conference round-up from Genomes to Biomes 2014, including poster award winners
-Information on CCFFR 2015 in Ottawa
-Announcement of 2015 Rigler and Peters Award winners (Who? Who?! The suspense is killing me... Better read the newsletter...)
-Student Update
-Member contributions (Josh Thienpont, Warwick Vincent), member recognition
-Upcoming meetings, Recent citings

Remember, you can always find this issue and back issues on our newsletter page.

Happy reading!

This summer, member John Smol was the focus of some surprising and unusual attention. Freedom of Information requests by journalist Tom Korski had unearthed internal government documents (dated Feb 8, 2013) authored by the then Deputy Minister to the Minister of Natural Resources Canada accusing Dr. Smol of “a lack of neutrality” in his communications around a paper he co-authored with a post doc in his lab (Joshua Kurek) and government scientists at Environment Canada, and bemoaned the level of media attention the paper received.

Dr. John Smol is among the most highly decorated and recognized scientists in the country. A past Rigler Award winner for his achievements in Limnology (1995), Dr. Smol is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and an Officer of the Order of Canada, to abridge a long list of accolades and recognition for his outstanding work as a scientist.

The documents disclosing the accusations, while made internally, are telling of how both the government and industry have aligned their messaging on the issue (click here for the briefing and industry response). Both the media speaking points for EC scientists (none of whom I recall being quoted in the media) and the response from the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers chose to focus on the fact that the levels of PAH’s detected were similar to others found elsewhere, and that zooplankton in these lakes were unaffected by PAH’s. Neither mention the exponential rate of increase in PAH levels in lake sediments since the development of the region, nor the fact PAH’s rise sharply in proximity to development (it is notable that both these observations are made in the briefing to the Minister, but are absent from the media speaking points). Both findings are important facts brought forward by the study, and the omission of a major component of those findings by both a government agency tasked with regulating industrial effects on the environment, and the industry it is meant to regulate, is disturbing.

It is difficult to understand how a fact that is clearly outlined in the ministerial briefing is grounds to accuse Dr. Smol for “lacking neutrality”. He simply was able to relay the information in the study to the general public, something both EC and industry chose not to do.

It is additionally confounding how a science-based department (NRCan) seems unaware of the communications process that accompanies the publication of articles that journals wish to promote, like the one in question. The complaint by the department that Dr. Smol gave pre-publication (but embargoed) interviews to the media that requested them is to complain about how science communication works, and is often journal policy (for example, in this case, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences releases a pre-print of the paper and their press releases, under embargo, five days before publication to the media). I would find it very surprising if the communications department from Environment Canada were left totally out of the loop on this in the development of this work and preparation of authors to speak to the articles findings. Indeed, the preparation of speaking points by the department for it’s scientists suggests exactly the opposite.

It is already bad enough that our government scientists are faced with policies that so heavily restrict their communication of scientific findings to the public, much more so than our counterparts in the USA (as illustrated in a recent report by Evidence for Democracy and Simon Fraser University). At the same time, government departments are facing growing restrictions on budgets, and are encouraged to find university partners who can help fill gaps in expertise left by these cuts. It is therefore counterproductive for the government to accuse these collaborators of bias when they simply report the findings of the study, or participate in the communication of the study results to the media. These measures will only act to discourage academic partnerships in the future.

We are pleased to announce the upcoming annual society meeting in conjunction with the Canadian Conference of Fisheries Research, January 8-11 2015. Abstract submission is now open, and the deadline for submissions is Nov. 3, 2015. Be sure to check back on our website for all the latest details, including registration and the Clemens-Rigler Travel Award, as they become available. We also hope to announce our 2015 Rigler Award recipient prior to the abstract submission deadline this year, so stay tuned.

We have a diverse and interesting program lined up this year. Below are the session titles and organizers, whom you may contact if you would like more information.

On behalf of SCL, we look forward to seeing you in Ottawa in January!

Themes and organizers for 2015:

1) Impacts of climate change on aquatic ecosystems: Don Jackson (don.jackson@utoronto.ca)

2) Genomic, proteomic and transcriptomic advancements in aquatic monitoring, assessment and response: Daniel Heath (dheath@uwindsor.ca)

3) Stable isotope and diet analyses in aquatic food webs: Aaron Fisk (afisk@uwindsor.ca), Tim Johnson (tim.johnson@ontario.ca)

4) Aquaculture and its impacts on aquatic environments: Trevor Pitcher (tpitcher@uwindsor.ca), Craig Purchase (cfpurchase@mun.ca)

5) Conservation and rehabilitation of natural habitats and biodiversity: Jon Midwood (midwoodj@gmail.com), Jesse Vermaire (Jesse.Vermaire@carleton.ca)

6) Understanding and managing non-native species: Michael Fox (mfox@trentu.ca)

7) Multiple stressors and aquatic ecosystems: Jules Blais (Jules.Blais@uottawa.ca)

8) Collaborative fisheries research in Canada: Rob Stephenson (Robert.Stephenson@dfo-mpo.gc.ca)

9) Aquatic nutrients: dynamics and algal blooms: Frances Pick (Frances.Pick@uottawa.ca)

10) Experimental Lakes Area: Mike Paterson (mpaterson@iisd-ela.org)

11) General contributed papers: Daniel Heath (dheath@uwindsor.ca), Bryan Neff (bneff@uwo.ca)

12) Student success workshop: Steven Cooke (Steven.Cooke@carleton.ca), Mark Poesch (poesch@ualberta.ca)