The American Fisheries Society

The American Fisheries Society (AFS) is the world's leading association of fisheries professionals, and it has established certification criteria. The society's certification program is fully developed and reputable, providing a meaningful credential for those who meet the certification standards. A board of certified fisheries professionals objectively reviews the qualifications of applicants. Practiced across a broad range of professions, certification programs provide standards and guidelines for professional recognition. While certification is not a license to practice for fisheries professionals as is required of physicians, architects, lawyers, or accountants, it does provide an extra measure of professionalism.

Only members of AFS may apply for certification.

Associate Fisheries Professional – An applicant who satisfies coursework and degree (minimum of B.S. or B.A.) requirements but has insufficient or no experience

Certified Fisheries Professional – An applicant who satisfies coursework and degree requirements and has a specific number of years of qualifying experience and a specific number of professional development quality points

For the most current certification information and application forms visit AFS Certificationor contact AFS, 5410 Grosvenor Lane, Bethesda, MD 20814; phone 301-897-8616.

Penn State courses understood to meet these requirements are listed; however, it is important to note that courses are not pre-approved and the acceptability of specific courses to AFS may change.

A minimum grade of C- is required to receive credit. Pass/fail credits are not viewed as an acceptable measure of competency for a subject area. However, if the institution attended by the applicant provides evidence that a "pass" grade is equivalent to a "C-" grade then AFS will allow that course to be used for requirements.

Educational Requirements for Certification

A. Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences: A minimum of four courses, three of which must be directly related to fisheries science. At least one course must cover principles of fisheries science and management and one course must cover fisheries and/or aquatic sampling techniques or its equivalent.

B. Other Biological Sciences: When added to the preceding courses, total to thirty (30) semester hours.

C. Physical Sciences: Fifteen (15) semester hours. Includes chemistry, physics, soils, geology, hydrology, earth science, astronomy, and meteorology.

D. Mathematics and Statistics: Six (6) semester hours, including one (1) calculus and one (1) statistics course or two (2) statistics

E. Communications: Nine (9) semester hours in communication courses that require oral and written communication skills. A minimum of 3 semester hours must be completed in oral communications and minimum of 3 semester hours must be completed in written communications. The remaining semester hours can be in either oral or written communications. Communication intensive courses, if officially designated as such by the college or university, can be applied in this However, if such courses are used in this category, they cannot be counted in another category (e.g., Category A).

F. Human Dimensions: Six semester hours. Human Dimensions courses must focus on socioeconomic topics of natural resource science and management, preferably those issues and aspects that directly pertain to fisheries management. They include named courses in human dimensions of natural resources and courses in policy, planning, administration, law, ethics, public relations, leadership, conflict resolution, natural resource economics, and others related to natural resource management. Introductory social science courses, such as sociology and psychology, do not qualify. Courses in this group may be double counted as fulfilling course requirements in the Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences category but the credit hours must be apportioned between the two categories based on the percentage time devoted to the human dimensions topic.