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ASL Executive Teleconference - 26 February 2003

ASL Executive Teleconference
26 February 2003

Apologies: S. Treadwell and N. Rea.

Present: R. Marchant, S. Josey, P. McEvoy, S. Schreiber, M. McGuire, M. Hart, J. Chambers, F. Bouckaert, R. Sinclair, A. Boulton and I. Growns.

SIL fund: A. Boulton outlined three options for how the ASL could proceed with this money: retain the full amount ($35,000) and use it to fund students, as originally proposed; donate some to the Bill Williams Memorial Trust Fund (BWMTF) at the University of Adelaide (which is also to be used to fund students) and manage the residual ourselves; or donate the full amount to the BWMTF.  The treasurer, M. Hart, argued that the whole of the fund should be kept within ASL’s control and that this control would be lost if it were donated to BWMTF. R. Marchant noted that if both the BWMTF and the ASL independently tried to fund students then neither group might have sufficient capital to make regular grants (from interest received) each year; grants might only be made every two to three years. Thus the money that has been donated to both groups is effectively diluted. He also suggested that co-ordinating the grant activity of both groups could be difficult. On the other hand, if the SIL fund were donated to BWMTF then a bigger amount of capital would accrue and grants could probably be made yearly. It was clear from the ensuing discussion that the crucial question was: how much money had BWMTF accrued apart from the potential SIL donation?  The executive felt that if less than $50,000 (the BWMTF target) were accrued in two years then all the money should come to the one ASL fund and be managed by the society; if more was accrued then the BWMTF would manage all the funds.  A. Boulton, who is on the BWMTF committee, and R. Marchant will liaise with BWMTF and attempt to resolve this issue.  It was emphasised by the executive that regular support for students is the essential criterion for how the funds should be managed.

Corporate membership: P. McEvoy enquired whether such a category existed. It does and is termed sustaining membership.  Such a member has the right to nominate two people both of whom have all the benefits of an ordinary member.  Currently the fee for such membership is $50. M. Hart indicated that this will have to be increased (probably to $100) to bring it into line with the current schedule of charges.

ASL congress in 2004: P. McEvoy relayed an offer from the River Murray Catchment Board in South Australia to sponsor an ASL congress in December 2004.  Kerri Muller has volunteered to organise this congress somewhere in southern SA.

Other news from SA: about 15 ASL members had a meeting before Christmas 2002.

Finance: M. Hart reported that the books had been finalised up to the end of 2002.  Expenses exceeded income by about $3000.  She noted that profit made by the annual conference often eliminated such a deficit and that conference organisers should plan to make a profit of about this magnitude.

Membership: P. McEvoy suggested that targets for new members should be set.  Since the revamped ASL brochures were distributed last year the society has gained about 45 new members, but lost about 50.  The pub nights held in various states are an obvious avenue for new members.  It was suggested that new members be listed in the newsletter and that those who have been members for 30 – 40 years be asked to write something for the newsletter. M. Hart will collate these lists.

FASTS report: F. Bouckaert, on behalf of the ASL, recently attended a FASTS workshop about how to manage a scientific society efficiently.  Some of the suggestions that came from this workshop:

employ a secretary. J. Chambers (immediate past president of ASL) applied last year to a federal government scheme for funds to employ a part time secretary.  Unfortunately this application was not funded.
increase membership benefits by publishing an electronic journal. This may not be possible for a small society such as the ASL, particularly as the former ASL Bulletin (a printed journal) was abandoned because of lack of a sufficient flow of papers. A. Boulton, who is on the editorial board of the CSIRO journal Marine and Freshwater Research, informed the executive that CSIRO had forgotten in recent years to offer ASL members a reduced subscription to this journal. This reduction will apparently be reinstated. A. Boulton has asked the editor to consider devoting a full issue to a freshwater topic.
contact a society that has moved to a paid secretariat. F. Bouckaert will follow this up. It was clear that a detailed job description will be needed for such a move.
develop a strategic plan. J. Chambers will circulate to the executive what the ASL already has developed along these lines.
issue occasional papers in collaboration with FASTS. One of ASL’s forthcoming policy statements could be used for this purpose. S. Schreiber will follow up the status of the paper on salinity policy with B. Kefford who volunterred to write the initial draft.

F. Bouckaert also noted that MDBC might provide sponsorship to an ASL congress.  He will contact Belinda Robson (organiser of the joint ASL- NZLS congress in Dec 2003) about this.

8.         14^th Wetland conference:  J. Chambers will attend this forthcoming conference and produce a report for the newsletter.