Voda IQ at the 156th American Fisheries Society Annual Meeting 

In September, the Voda IQ team traveled to Columbus, Ohio, for the 156th Annual Meeting of the American Fisheries Society (AFS), bringing together fisheries professionals, researchers, biologists, agencies, universities, and industry partners from across North America and beyond. 

This year’s theme, “The Heart of Sustainability: Habitat as the Foundation of Productive Fisheries,” highlighted something at the core of fisheries science: understanding where fish live, how they move, how they use available habitat, and how those habitats influence survival and productivity. 

Those are also questions where technologies such as PIT tags can play an important role. 

Between educational sessions, the tradeshow, customer visits, a baseball game, and the PIT Tag Symposium, it was a busy and rewarding trip for the Voda IQ team. 

Connecting with the Fisheries Community 

Voda IQ set up a booth at the AFS tradeshow where we were able to showcase our growing lineup of PIT tags, preloaded tagging systems, PIT tag readers, the Veloce Measuring Board, and VodaTrak data management software. 

The show was a great success. We made a number of valuable new contacts while also having the opportunity to reconnect face-to-face with many of the customers, researchers, and industry partners we already work with. 

For us, those conversations are one of the most valuable parts of attending AFS. 

We learn a tremendous amount by listening to researchers talk about what is happening in the field, the challenges they are facing, and the tools they need to collect better information. Many of the ideas behind Voda IQ products and improvements have come directly from conversations just like these. 

Presenting PIT Tag Performance Results 

One of the highlights of the meeting was participating in the PIT Tag Symposium, where we had the opportunity to present results from a recently completed independent evaluation of Voda IQ PIT tag performance and compatibility in the Columbia River Basin. 

The Columbia River Basin has one of the largest and most established PIT tag monitoring infrastructures in the world, making performance and compatibility especially important for researchers working within the system. 

For Voda IQ, having independent data available and being able to discuss those results directly with fisheries professionals was an important opportunity. 

We believe manufacturers should be willing to put their products to the test. Independent evaluation, transparency, and real-world performance data give researchers better information when selecting PIT tags and equipment for their projects while helping move PIT tag technology forward. 

PIT Tags, Habitat, and Better Fisheries Data 

The theme of this year’s meeting was particularly relevant to the work being done by many Voda IQ customers. 

Habitat may be the foundation of productive fisheries, but understanding how fish actually interact with that habitat requires good data. 

PIT tag technology can help researchers identify individual fish and gather information about movement, migration timing, habitat use, survival, growth, passage, and behavior. When those individual identification records are combined with location, time, biological measurements, and other field data, researchers can begin building a much more complete picture of how fish are using a watershed. 

The PIT tag itself may be a simple tool, but the information generated through PIT tag research can help answer some very complex questions. 

Baseball, Customers, and Baru the Saltwater Crocodile 

Of course, not everything happened inside a conference room or tradeshow booth. 

While in Columbus, we treated several customers to a Columbus Clippers baseball game. It was a fun opportunity to get away from the tradeshow for an evening, relax, and spend some time with the people we work with outside of the normal business environment. 

We also made the trip north to visit customers at the Toledo Zoo & Aquarium. 

Customer visits like this are always valuable because they allow us to see the work being done firsthand and better understand how identification and monitoring technology is being used in different applications. 

And this particular visit came with a pretty incredible bonus: we got to watch the staff feed Baru, the Zoo’s enormous saltwater crocodile! 

Seeing Baru up close and watching a feeding was definitely one of the more memorable customer visits we’ve made and a great reminder that individual identification and animal monitoring extend well beyond traditional fisheries applications. 

More Than a Tradeshow 

The AFS Annual Meeting is about much more than exhibiting products. 

It gives us an opportunity to listen, learn, and better understand the direction fisheries science is heading. 

Throughout the meeting, we attended presentations, talked with researchers, learned about new projects, discussed emerging technologies, and heard firsthand about some of the challenges fisheries professionals are working to solve. 

Those conversations help us become better at what we do. 

Whether it is developing better PIT tags, improving preloaded tagging systems, creating more capable readers, simplifying fish measurements with the Veloce Measuring Board, or making field data collection easier with VodaTrak, our goal is to develop tools that make researchers’ jobs easier and their data better. 

A Great Week in Columbus 

Overall, the 156th American Fisheries Society Annual Meeting was a tremendous success for Voda IQ. 

We came home with new relationships, stronger connections with existing customers, new ideas, and an even greater appreciation for the scientists, biologists, technicians, agencies, universities, and organizations working to understand and protect fisheries and aquatic habitats. 

The theme, “The Heart of Sustainability: Habitat as the Foundation of Productive Fisheries,” was also a good reminder of why quality fisheries data matters. 

Understanding habitat requires understanding the animals that depend on it. Where do they go? When do they move? Do they return? Do they survive? How quickly do they grow? Which habitats do they use? 

Individual identification technologies like PIT tags are one of the tools researchers can use to help answer those questions. 

Thank you to everyone who stopped by the Voda IQ booth, attended the PIT Tag Symposium, shared their research with us, joined us at the ballpark, welcomed us to the Toledo Zoo & Aquarium, or simply took a few minutes to introduce themselves. 

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Ohio and came home energized by the conversations, connections, and ideas shared throughout the week. 

And now we’re already looking forward to what’s next. 

See you in Pittsburgh in 2027! 

Learn More About Voda IQ 

Voda IQ provides PIT tags, preloaded PIT tagging systems, handheld PIT tag readers, measuring boards, and customizable fisheries data management software for research projects of all sizes. 

Whether you’re planning a university research project, habitat study, fish passage evaluation, or large-scale fisheries monitoring program, we’d love to learn more about your work and help identify the right tools for your project. 

Visit Voda IQ to learn more about our PIT tag and fisheries research solutions.