Desert Fishes Council
34th Annual Meeting
San Luis Potosí, SLP, México
Welcome cocktail - Zoo visit - City tour - Banquet - Banquet specials
Welcome cocktail
A Welcome cocktail will be offered by the DFC to early arrivals after the onsite registration at Salon "E" at the host hotel Fiesta Inn on Thursday, November 14 at 7:00 pm., DFC courtesy drinks and Mexican canapés will be available and then bar service will be open for per drink pay.
Zoo and Aquarium visit
On Friday, November 15 at 1:00 pm, just after the morning presentations, bus transportation will be ready to take us to The Mexquitic Zoo (30 minutes away from host hotel) that has arranged a guided visit and a Mexican lunch for DFC attendees, costs are included in registration. The Mexquitic Zoo, owned by Josep Vilet, is managed by his daughter María Eugenia Vilet. The zoo hosts an Aquarium of National fish, with populations of fish species extinct in the wild like Zoogoneticus tequila and Skiffia francesae. At 3:20 pm, the buses will be ready to take us back to the host hotel for the afternoon presentations.
City tour
Friday dinner will be held in a downtown restaurant in colonial San Luis Potosí, with cost shared by attendees. A tour of colonial downtown San Luis Potosí will take place after dinner Friday night.
DFC Business meeting
Host hotel Fiesta Inn has provided its bowl "E" for the Desert Fishes Council Business meeting to take place Saturday November 16 at 17:00 hrs. Saloon "E" has a capacity for 100 seated persons.
Cash Bar
An hour prior the banquet there will be a cash bar available in one of the hotel lobbies for DFS meeting attendes to socialize.
Banquet
Saturday evening at 7:00 pm the meeting banquet will take place at the host hotel Fiesta Inn Salon "La Fiesta". We have a choice of two menus available, as follows:
Menu 1 (Beef)
- Cream of sweet corn with chili strips (Not hot chili)
- Beef medallions with 3 sauces (lemon, mustard and black pepper)
- Mashed potatoes
- Three milks cake with peaches
Menu 2 (Fish)
- Tuna-stuffed avocado
- Fish fillet parmentier (with béchamel sauce and cheese)
- White rice with vegetables
- Ice cream cake
The menu includes water with different fruits.
Banquet specials
Celebrating Killifish with a Latin beat
After
dinner, we will have a special banquet presentation, Kit Stowell, a
Killifish Specialist and retired Professor of Latin American Studies from
San Diego, and also an accomplished harp player, has composed some Killifish
songs on base on Latin-American rhythms that he will gracefully play for the
audience.
After hearing them for the first time, I got in love with Kit's adaptations and I am very happy that Kit has kindly agreed to give a special presentation for DFC meeting attendees. I can assure nobody will be disappointed!
Ecoloasis, conservation through local action
Dr. Stowell, will also discuss the non-profit organization "Ecoloasis", which was formed in an attempt to promote the protection of vulnerable killifish habitats by raising consciousness of the local human populations about the biological importance of the unique fish resources and the fragility of the habitats, and to promote captive maintenance of imperiled populations.
Program of Conservation, Maintenance and Handling of Mexican Goodeids
Omar Dominguez Domínguez, head of the Program for Conservation, Maintenance and Handling of Mexican Goodeids taking place at the Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, will give an introduction to their program, running successfully from 1997, with the goal to keep a research line for conservation and sustainable use of the Goodeinae, the Mexican Goodeidae, many of them suffering from the same problems that face many fish in desert bodies of water. The universtity lab keeps healthy colonies of 39 of the 40 Goodeinae species. some of them aquarist donations and most collected in the wild by University staff. Some of the species kept are extinct in the wild. Initial Funds for the program were supplied by Fish Ark, an International effort by Aquarists to save endangered fish populations, headed by Ivan Dibble from England.