Visit the kelpforest....

Angus's conference, while not as entirely cheery as Gareth's, was not all bad. John was on the verge of not going because of wheezing and coughing much of last night, but felt guilty about my going by myself. More about that later...

Hmm, have not got Ventura/Santa Barbara landings yet for monthly report, and DP is using the computer I need to run reports on anyway, so I guess I may as well go read otoliths. I'm behind anyway. I was going to start that as soon as the conference was over, but other things grabbed my attention. Looking forward to long sessions with the microscope in the next few weeks.

I must be good. AL brought in a box of Krispy Kreme donuts (she does this whenever she gets good coupons), and distributed them this morning, then left the box in the aisle right outside my office! No, must resist and only have one!

Started reading mackerel otoliths again, because I'll turn around and it'll be time to do the biomass assessment on them, too. Last week, DP brought in a sample of 25 fish that weighed over 18 kg (>40 lbs)! Damn, those fish are going to be older than any I've seen in a long time - I hope I can even read them. Right after processing the sample, both VT and DP laughed at me and said "We want you to go read these right now - we want to see how old they are!" Jeez, give 'em a chance to dry out first, girls.