Welcome to the technical sessions schedule for the 2015 SEAFWA Annual Meeting.
NEW THIS YEAR! The technical schedule is capable of being sorted by date (i.e, Monday, Nov. 2), track (i.e. Wildlife Technical Sessions), or session (i.e. Wildlife Session #1). You can also search for a presentation title (i.e. Changing Landscapes by Coalition), key term (i.e. striped bass), or presenter last name (i.e. Weaver). The sort and search functions can be found on the navigation panel on the right side of this page. If you hover over the "Schedule" button, you’ll also see different schedule view options (i.e. Grid or Simple). Try selecting each of them to see which view you prefer.
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SCHEDULE UPDATES: The session abstracts and timeslots are subject to change. This site will be updated as changes come in; please check back for updates.
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Maria Baron Palamar, Allison Nolker -North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission
In North Carolina we have been CWD testing free ranging and clinical cervids since 1999. In 2002 and 2004 the NCWRC implemented a CWD surveillance strategy around captive cervid facilities considered the primary risk for disease introduction to our wild deer. In 2003-2004 the first state-wide CWD surveillance effort was implemented, to be repeated every 5 years. By 2008-2009 this effort was duplicated, yielding 1,488 samples. Finally, in 2013-2014, our largest effort ever, 3,887 samples from across the State were tested. Intensive surveillance increases confidence the disease does not currently occur, and/or shortens the duration of time before disease first detection. A large sampling effort with negative results can also be the source of a false sense of security in a State with high deer densities, presenting challenges for biologists to explain a “not detected” result to the public and policy makers in a time of regulatory uncertainty. Nevertheless, large sampling efforts provide educational opportunities for field staff, the public and cooperating hunters, generating a knowledge trickling effect and a sense of ownership. Another poorly studied, possible source of CWD is the ingression of high risk cervid parts collected by out-of-state hunters. Lack of inter-state communication and data sharing, as well as regulation variability amongst States, only exacerbate the risk. Results from a newly developed survey to be delivered to natural resources agencies across the U.S. and one specific to taxidermists in NC, will allow us to better understand our out-of-state hunting population and minimize the risk of CWD introduction.
