Examining the Relevancy and Utility of the American Fisheries Society Professional Certification Program to Prepare Future Fisheries Professionals

Fisheries Volume 49 Number 2 February 2024

“…Conversations about the need for professional standards for fi sheries biologists date back to the 1930s (Leopold 1939 ), continued through subsequent decades (Eipper 1973 ;Chapman 1979 ;Nielsen 1981 ; Kelso and Murphy 1988 ;Scalet and Adelman 1995 ), and remain a current topic (Essig 2016 ;Kaemingk et al 2016 ;McMullin et al 2016 ). These sometimes contentious conversations (e.g., Chapman 1979 ;Scalet and Adelman 1995 ) centered on what constitutes an appropriate curriculum for providing minimum competency for aspiring fi sheries professionals.…”

“…Something about it needs change to meet the requirements of our constituents or its relevance will continue to decline. The need for professional standards has not disappeared, and employers continue to advocate for "better training" for students (see Kaemingk et al 2016 ;McMullin et al 2016 ). The American Fisheries Society ' s current certifi cation standards are 20+ years old, and the skill sets needed to address increasingly complex fi sheries problems undoubtedly have changed as well.…”

“…The American Fisheries Society ' s current certifi cation standards are 20+ years old, and the skill sets needed to address increasingly complex fi sheries problems undoubtedly have changed as well. Kaemingk et al ( 2016 ) suggests that AFS ' s certifi cation standards may be outdated and in need of revisions. In recent conversations with the president of NAUFWP, I learned that TWS will be evaluating their certifi cation program to ascertain its relevancy and perhaps revise their certifi cation standards as appropriate.…”

Relevance of Professional Fisheries Certification in the 21st Century

“…Conversations about the need for professional standards for fisheries biologists date back to the 1930s (Leopold 1939), continued through subsequent decades (Eipper 1973;Chapman 1979;Nielsen 1981;Kelso and Murphy 1988;Scalet and Adelman 1995), and remain a current topic Kaemingk et al 2016;McMullin et al 2016). These sometimes contentious conversations (e.g., Chapman 1979;Scalet and Adelman 1995) centered on what constitutes an appropriate curriculum for providing minimum competency for aspiring fisheries professionals.…”

“…Something about it needs change to meet the requirements of our constituents or its relevance will continue to decline. The need for professional standards has not disappeared, and employers continue to advocate for "better training" for students (see Kaemingk et al 2016;McMullin et al 2016). The American Fisheries Society's current certification standards are 20+ years old, and the skill sets needed to address increasingly complex fisheries problems undoubtedly have changed as well.…”