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AWMS Newsletter

   
  May 2021

   
Volume 35 Issue 1   

From the Acting President

Thomas Newsome

Welcome to 2021! There was no nomination for President of AWMS for 2021, but I am very pleased to be Acting President this year until our next AGM.

For those who do not know me, I have been affiliated as a member of AWMS since 2007. I held the Treasurer role from 2016 to 2019, and was elected as Vice President in 2020. My research has a heavy wildlife management focus, and I seem to find myself studying the ecology and impacts of controversial species such as dingoes, deer, and scavengers (animals that eat dead stuff).Tarnya Cox - GoTroppo Conference Dinner AWMS 2019

I would firstly like to thank Tarnya Cox for the dedicated service she provided to AWMS through the various roles she held on the AWMS Committee, especially as President from 2019-2020. Tarnya was a true advocate for AWMS, and along with taking the dress-up competition very seriously at annual conferences she helped AWMS stay afloat and active during the pandemic year of 2020 where we held our first ever online conference. I would also like to extend thanks to Terry Korn who is stepping down from being our Public Officer, and to Melissa Snape who served as Secretary from 2019-2020.

AWMS ran a very successful online conference last year. The AWMS Committee decided to make the conference free to attend to encourage participation and engagement, including from our international partner SAWMA. Thanks again to Konnie Gebauer for leading the efforts to organise such a great conference. The 2021 conference will be held at The University of Canberra from 7-9th December. We are working towards a face-to-face conference pending our ongoing success living with COVID.

The AWMS committee held its first meeting this year in April. I couldn’t help notice how young the Committee is, and I reflected how it felt like a “changing of the guard”. The Committee identified the need for AWMS to engage more with members, to recruit more members, and to become a more active and vocal advocate for appropriate use of wildlife management to tackle environmental issues at the local, State and Federal Government level. I look forward to working with the Committee and AWMS members in 2021 to achieve these goals.

Wishing you all the best.

COnference wrap-up Social Media Officer

Margarita Medina

Last December the 33rd #AWMS2020 conference was held online on Zoom and Facebook live and it was a success. We had attendees from 21 countries (Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, USA, United Kingdom, Argentina, Austria, Belize, Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Ireland, Nepal, Norfolk Island, Peru, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe). No doubt that AWMS went global.

There were amazing talks on many different topics like conservation, reintroduction, eradication and new technologies and methods on wildlife management.

In 2020 we all missed the conference dinner and the traditional dress-up competition but we had a great response from the attendees on tweeting about the conference and we have more followers on all our social media platforms from people all around the world.

If you would like to check the highlights of the conference on social media, you can follow us on twitter @AWMSociety or use #AWMS2020.



For any feedback and/or contributions to the website, newsletter and/or social media send me an email newsletter@awms.org.au,  I am sure there are lots of interesting and exciting stories out there. 

I would like to thank Konnie Gebauer (Conference Liaison Officer) and all the members of the Conference Organising Committee and Local Conference Committee for organising the AWMS 2020 Conference.

See you in Canberra #AWMS2021.

Conference Liaison Officer Report

Konnie Gebauer

The year 2020 was a very different year in many ways. Due to the Covid19 Pandemic AWMS early on decided to not hold a traditional face-to-face conference but a virtual conference, free for all to attend. Having organised the previous 5 conferences the old-fashioned way, I changed all my to-do-lists, created new ones and dove headfirst into the world of online conferencing and livestreaming videos.

I am happy to report that the AWMS2020 conference went extremely well! The internet didn’t break down, all speakers were able to present, everybody logged in at the right time, the Facebook livestream worked!

Having the conference online had advantages and disadvantages compared to a face-to-face conference. Despite the chat and Q&A functions, networking and interaction with other delegates was unfortunately very limited, there was no conference dinner with costumes, no chats during tea breaks and no admiring of the latest developments in gadgets and tools at the trade exhibits. On the other hand, we were able to welcome speakers and delegates from all corners of the world.

In total we had 345 people attend the conference, joining us on Zoom from 21 different countries: 256 people from Australia, 24 from New Zealand, 36 from South Africa, 26 from the USA, 9 from the UK and one person each from Argentina, Austria, Belize, Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Ireland, Nepal, Norfolk Island, Peru, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.

Additionally, during the 20 hours of livestream on Facebook, on average, we had 125 people/hour watching the presentations, recorded an average of 12 post engagements/hour resulting in an estimated 495 people reached/hour.

We were also able to listen to presentations from 8 members of the South African Wildlife Management Association (SAWMA) on wildlife management projects from South Africa.

The conference could not have happened without the fantastic work by the conference organising committee!

I would also like to extend a special thank you to our Sponsors: Advanced Telemetry Systems Australia, Hunter Land Management Pty Ltd, Faunatech, Wildlife Acoustics, Botstiber Institute for Wildlife Fertility Control, Heli Surveys, Hollow Log Homes Pty Ltd, Holohil, Lotek NZ Ltd., Microchips Australia and Wildlife Health Australia.


Sebastien ComteTreasurer Report 

Sebastien Comte


Based on the status of the accounts on the 30/6/2020 the AWMS financial position is keeping the positive trend of the last three years. The total assets increased from $246,494.61 in FY2019 to $268,284.41. A full breakdown is below.

Note that the total current assets above includes the public fund, which is audited separately (total $109,606.81) – the remaining balance is $158,677.60.

Total income in the 2020FY was $89,585.98. Expenses totalled $55,769.01 which provided a net profit of $33,816.97. This profit margin was about double of that received in 2019FY and equivalent to that of 2018FY.

Major changes over the last year have included:

●       Change of all signatures on both corporate bank account and Public funds.

●       Very tedious process due to the need of each member to sign all document in person. Problem of not           being in the same location => different branches need to communicate.

●       The process with CBA was very complicated as it appeared that most documents hadn’t been updated         for several years.

●       The process needs to be done each time a signature is changed


Membership Report

Shannon Dundas

2020 has thrown everyone a few curve balls. I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy but still managing to get a bit of time out in the field. 

Our membership numbers have decreased again from last year. The current membership numbers stand at 159. The breakdown is:


This compares to 183 for 2019 and 230 for 2018. Given the conference this year will be a remote free event available for members and non-members, unfortunately we didn’t get the usual boost in numbers associated with new members looking to benefit from the discounted conference fees.

Fingers crossed 2021 will be an improvement on 2020! Stay safe.


You can read more about the work of our other award winners in our next newsletter.

AGM 2020 Outcomes

2020 Draft Minutes


Thomas Newsome has agreed to act as AWMS president until the next AGM or until the committee is able to appoint someone else in the interim, in accordance with the constitution. AWMS will also need to appoint a new public officer, and also seek to find a NZ student representative and assistant treasurer.

If you are a member and would like to be part of the AWMS committee send us an email at info@awms.org.au nominating yourself 

34th AWMS conference       #AWMS2021


Save the date! This year's conference will be focusing on Biodiversity Management and Climate Change. For more information visit the conference page https://www.awms.org.au/AWMS-Conference-2021

See you in Canberra #AWMS2021

Want to host AWMS 2022?

You can have all the networking opportunities, presentations and trade exhibits at your front door, and showcase your research, projects and facilities. If you would like to have AMWS 2022 in your city and help organising this conference, please contact conference@awms.org.au for more details.


Tarnya Cox - GoTroppo Conference Dinner AWMS 2019

This newsletter reflects the opinions of the author(s) but not necessarily those of the AWMS Committee or membership. AWMS makes no claim as to the accuracy of stated claims and any party using this information does so at their own risk.

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