The Kenai Peninsula Fish Habitat Partnership is, once again, hosting a science symposium to discuss the healthy future for fish, and all things impacted by fish, on the Kenai Peninsula.

The biennial symposium, taking place this Thursday, April 18 at the Cannery Lodge in Kenai, is free with open registration to the public.

“We’re looking for as many diverse perspectives as we can get,” said Branden Bornemann, coordinator for the Kenai Peninsula Fish Habitat Partnership and executive director of the Kenai Watershed Forum. “We’re hoping to have robust conversations about what we see in the future for fish habitat and how we insure future generations have healthy fish and ecosystems and how we can facilitate that now and into the future.”

The Kenai Peninsula Fish Habitat Partnership began in 2010 and hosts the symposium every two years. This year’s event will be held across one day starting at 9 a.m.

The day starts with 15-minute presentations from different groups engaged in the partnership. The afternoon sessions include a keynote talk with Sue Mauger and Dr. Kristin Mitchell as they share their lessons learned during their time traveling Antartica.

“They travelled with women scientists from around the world, having discussions and exploring,” Bornemann said. “They’ll talk about lessons learned and key takeaways.”

The day ends with a roundtable discussion covering topics such as marine habitat, freshwater habitat, outreach, partnerships and thinking outside the box.

“We’re hoping to gain insight into what partners are doing for fish habitat and where the Kenai Peninsula Fish Habitat Partnership can help them do things better, where the opportunities exist to partner together in the future,” Bornemann said.

Entry is free, but guests are asked to preregister online on the Kenai Watershed Forum website or at https://www.kenaifishpartnership.org/?page_id=679.

Free coffee, drinks and food from Lucy’s will be provided.

“The mission for the partnership is to protect, maintain, restore and enhance fish habitats,” Bornemann said. “Our purpose is to create and foster effective collaborations, healthy fish, habitat, economy in the Kenai Peninsula Borough. Anyone interested in any of those thoughts are more than welcome to join.”