William E. Meehan: An AFS Legacy Builder

W. E. Meehan (left) with Daniel Broberg, the Arctic expedition’s Native interpreter.

By Daniel Shaw

William E. Meehan, my great‐great‐grandfather, had both professional accomplishment and humiliation as he served from 1910 to 1911 as the American Fisheries Society’s 30th President (https://bit.ly/3cT9Cqx). He was a contemporary of Theodore Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot, and like them, embraced civic engagement, outdoor adventure, and the emerging conservation ethic of their shared era. As a scientific researcher and prolific author for both lay and technical audiences, Meehan’s impacts were wide and still linger over a century later. As a modern day AFS member, I see where some of his accomplishments and ideas still positively reverberate through the organization and profession. Likewise, I have spent part of my career dealing with the unintended consequences of some of his and his generation’s fisheries management actions. Perhaps most intriguing of all to me is that I am continuing to fight for his political battles for clean water, healthy fisheries, and strong communities….Read more in the August 2020 issue of Fisheries.