2014

President - Bob Rushman welcomed everyone.

Secretary– Beth Plotner reported on the minutes.

Treasurer – Gave the balance and reported there was no activity.

Business Meeting

• Illinois Department of Natural Resources – No updates.
• Chicago Portage site visit – There was a tour on October 11^th.
• Illinois Railway Project that will be led by Sam Polonetszky. The project will be at the Illinois Railway Museum and hopes to be done over the winter. The project will be centered on Car Ferry #2.
• ICSSD – Presidents Night Dinner that was held on October 25. Julie Scheibe was named Diver of the year and Jim Jarecki Humanitarian of the year. Pumpkin carving contest at Haigh was well attended. The 2015 underwater competition will be held on March 22.
• Survey Reports –
• Solon Johnson – Tony reported that more work was done on the survey.
• Wreck Checker – No updates.
• Website – Work is being done to update the website.
• Christmas Tree Ship play – Julie reported that the price of the tickets have gone up and asked about interest or if there was interest in possibly having a group night out at another play. The outing was planned for December 13^th matinee performance. Chet Childs reported that there is another group that also puts on the play and it may be more reasonable.
• Next meeting is November 19^th and the guest speaker is TBD.

Other Business

• Bob Rushman asked for suggestions on future speakers and to help out Jim Jarecki who has done an exemplary job getting speakers for quite some time. Other suggestions included also having members give presentations.
• The Christmas Party may be after the holidays this year.
• Diveheart Luau will be Saturday Nov 8^th at Downers Grove American Legion Hall.

Featured Speaker: Dr. Philip Willink

Topic: Great Lakes Invasive Fishes: Peering through the Murk of Scientific Facts, General Opinions, and Public Policy

Philip Willink, Ph.D., is the Senior Research Biologist in the Daniel P. Haerther Center for Conservation and Research of the John G. Shedd Aquarium He has traveled around the world to study fishes, including such places as Bolivia, Brazil, Guatemala, Guyana, Jamaica, Madagascar, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Suriname, United States (including the Great Lakes Region) and Venezuela. His research interests include the discovery of new species, distribution of fishes in relation to habitat and geography, historical changes in fish communities in response to humans modifying aquatic environments, foraging ecology, conservation, writing field guides, endangered species, invasive species, and habitat restoration, Philip has authored over 30 scientific publications. He has helped film nature Documentaries with BBC/Discovery Channel and National Geographic Channel, as well as providing information for Animal Planet’s River Monsters.