The Island Hotel will serve as the main hotel while the meeting will be hosted across the street at the Destin – Fort Walton Beach Convention Center. The Island Hotel is a 329 room beachside resort that has multiple resort-style amenities, bars, onsite restaurants, and complimentary parking and is ideally located close to several attractions. More information will be posted on the GCFI75 Conference Page related to transportation, travel, accommodations and reservations

Abstracts for GCFI75 are due by July 31, 2022. Abstracts will be accepted in English, French, and Spanish. ALL ABSTRACTS MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY ENGLISH, SPANISH AND FRENCH TITLES. Abstracts are only required in one of the three languages; titles must be in all three languages. Abstracts must not exceed 250 words (275 for Spanish and French) and must be submitted online via the secure online Abstract Submission Form.

Acceptance to present within an oral or poster session requires submission of an extended abstract. Extended abstract preparation guidelines will be available online. Members of GCFI are encouraged to submit full manuscripts or short communications based on presentations given at GCFI meetings to Gulf and Caribbean Research for peer review.  Accepted manuscripts will be published open access at no charge to the authors through the GCFI-GCR partnership. Full manuscripts will also be accepted for publishing in the GCFI Proceedings.

Authors of accepted presentations will be notified via e-mail in September 2022. Submissions intended for the oral presentation, but not granted a slot, would automatically be accepted as a poster presentation. Regardless of the format, we encourage everyone who is interested in participating to submit an abstract.

The conference program features multi-disciplinary thematic sessions. Each session may have a mix of natural and social science, management, and technology related to the ecosystem or fisheries, highlighting the conference theme. Papers and posters are solicited in the following areas (other subjects not listed below will also be considered):

• Governance, livelihoods, and organizations
• Reefs and associated ecosystems and fisheries
  • Shallow and deep reef fishes
  • Snapper and grouper fisheries
  • Fish spawning aggregations
  • Lionfish and other invasive species
  • Artificial reefs
• Queen conch, spiny lobster, and other invertebrates
• Marine protected areas science and management
• Pelagic ecosystem and recreational fisheries
• Continental shelf ecosystem fisheries
• Shrimp and demersal trawl fisheries
• Habitats, climate change, and coastal management
• Climate change science and adaptation
• Sargassum science and management
• Aquaculture
• Marine litter science and management (including ALDFG)
• Communication and environmental education

Outstanding Student Achievement Award

GCFI, through partnerships with NOAA’s Caribbean Fisheries Management Council and the Harte Research Institute is awarding $1,500 scholarships to the best oral and poster presentations (both virtual and in-person presentations are eligible). The content of the presentation must be related to final research done by the student related to their thesis or dissertation. If already submitted, this thesis or dissertation must be no older than one year. A manuscript of the oral/poster presentation must be submitted to be eligible for this award. The award winners will receive their scholarship at the following year’s conference, to help support their participation in this meeting. Complete instructions and eligibility requirements are on the Outstanding Student Achievement Awards web page.

GCFI Travel Awards

GCFI in partnership with the Harte Research Institute will offer two travel awards of US$750 each to eligible students to help offset travel costs to GCFI74. The deadline for students to apply for this award is July 31, 2022. Complete instructions and eligibility requirements are on the GCFI Student Travel Awards web page. Students will be notified of acceptance/rejection of their application by September 1, 2022. Students may apply for a travel award and for consideration for the Student Achievement Award in the same year. Students who received the GCFI72 Student Achievement Award are not eligible for a travel award.

Ron Schmied Scholarship

The Ron Schmied Scholarship, a GCFI initiative supported by the International Game Fish Association (IGFA) and private individuals, will be offered to a qualified graduate student in support of their travel to GCFI74. The Scholarship is in the amount of US$1,500, and graduate students with an interest in social, economic, biological, ecological, or management perspectives on recreational fisheries are eligible to apply. The deadline for students to apply for this award is July 31, 2022. Students will be notified of acceptance/rejection of their application by September 1, 2022. Note that a manuscript of the oral/poster presentation must be submitted to be eligible for this award. Complete instructions and eligibility requirements for the Ron Schmied Scholarship are on the Ron Schmied Scholarship page. Students may apply for the Scholarship and for consideration for the Student Achievement Award in the same year. Students may also ask to be considered for the Ron Schmied Scholarship and a GCFI Travel Award in the same year but will only receive one award.

Are you interested in submitting a short film to the CINEFISH Film Festival at the GCFI Conference? If so, please email the following information to [email protected]:

• Title of film
• Brief description of film (2-3 sentences)
• Film makers(s)
• Duration of film (specify) – Films should be 10-15 minutes or less
• Film still shot
• Link to the film (YouTube, Vimeo, Dropbox or Google Drive)
• Type of film
  • Documentary: a non-fictional motion picture to document some aspect of reality.
  • Animation: a short, hand-drawn, stop motion, character animation or computer animated production.
  • New media: includes music videos and public service announcements (PSAs).

Please note that film-makers are allowed a maximum of 15 minutes and can choose to submit a single, longer film or two shorter films in mp4 format. The content of the films should be related to the environment, fisheries, sustainable livelihoods, marine ecosystems or other similar content

Deadline: September 15th, 2022

To stay informed of all GCFI75 updates, we encourage you to follow GCFI on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and use the Conference Hashtag #GCFI75. More details on fun activities coming soon!