Dan Daugherty, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
Dan Daugherty is a fisheries research senior scientist for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Inland Fisheries Division at the Heart of the Hills Fisheries Science Center. Dan holds a Bachelor of Science in aquatic ecology from Northern Michigan University, and Master of Science and Doctorate degrees in fisheries and aquatic sciences from the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources at Purdue University. Striving to improve fisheries management and conservation, Dan’s work focuses on using innovative approaches to understand fish life history, spatial ecology, and population dynamics. He has authored or coauthored 50 peer-reviewed publications and more than 100 scientific presentations on a wide variety of fishes and fisheries.
Dan has been active in the American Fisheries Society since becoming a member in 2001. He served eight years as an associate editor for North American Journal of Fisheries Management prior to being promoted to co-editor in 2014. In 2018, Dan was selected to serve as Editor-in-Chief of the journal, a role in which he continues to serve today. He completed terms of service as both a member and chair of the AFS John E. Skinner memorial award committee, as well as serving on the AFS undergraduate travel award committee. He served on meeting planning committees in the Indiana state chapter, and as secretary, fundraising, and education committee chairs in the Purdue University Student Subunit as a graduate student. Since moving to Texas in 2006, Dan has served as the fisheries session chair for the 2008 and 2023 SEAFWA meetings, the general meeting chair for the 2019 Southern Division meeting in Galveston, Texas, and is a member of the Southern Division’s Alligator Gar technical committee. In the Texas chapter of AFS, Dan served 10 years as the editorial committee chair before serving as president-elect, president, and past president. In 2019, Dan received the Distinguished Service Award from the American Fisheries Society. Serving the SDAFS stems from Dan’s interest in doing his part to support the long history of great work our members do to manage, conserve, and promote wild things and wild places throughout the division. In addition, he is interested in continuing to refine, promote, and enhance the opportunities and services the division and society can provide its members.
Dan, his wife Carolina and two daughters Andrea (11) and Camila (8) make their home in Kerrville, Texas. In his free time, Dan enjoys western big game hunting, salt and freshwater fishing, and taxidermy.
Matt Wegener, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
Matt Wegener is an Associate Research Scientist for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission where he currently heads the Garcon Point Aquatic Research Center in Milton, Florida. Research projects at this facility range from Alligator Gar, Gulf Sturgeon, a variety of minnows and darters, Striped Bass, and freshwater mussels. Matt’s fisheries career began when he volunteered for the Illinois Natural History Survey when he was 17 years old. After graduating from Southern Illinois University with a BS degree in 2007, he worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and then earned his MS degree from Mississippi State University in 2013.
Matt started attending SDAFS in 2010 when he won the “Best Student Presentation” and has presented on a variety of other topics including: Alligator Gar telemetry, genetics of estuarine Largemouth Bass populations, alternative management strategies for small impoundments and life history of riverine black bass species. He was chair of the Alligator Gar SDAFS Technical Committee, where he instituted quarterly webinars, coordinated with SDAFS EXCOM on a review of the committee in 2018, and organized an Alligator Gar workshop at the 2019 SDAFS meeting in Galveston, Texas.
“The American Fisheries Society has been with me every step throughout my career. Early on I would cruise the job board daily looking for opportunities to gain experience in the field. Attending AFS meetings (state, regional and national) was beneficial for networking and continuing education. Now it provides leadership opportunities for growing individual research fields and mentoring the next generation of biologists. I would consider it an honor to serve the society that has provided me with this invaluable service throughout my career. If elected, I would focus on reaching young people who may not be aware of how rewarding and powerful a career in fisheries can be. If we can get them to touch a fish before they touch a keyboard, we may have a chance!”