Southern California partyboat sampling study Quarterly Report no. 7

From January 1 through March 31, 1977, Department personnel made 100 sampling trips aboard southern California partyboats. A total of 16,400 fishes from 68 species was identified and measured. Otoliths, for age determination studies, were removed from 301 rockfish carcasses representing 23 species. The 10 most common species sampled during this quarter were bocaccio, Sebastes paucispinis (38.5%); chilipepper, S. goodei (9.8%); widow rockfish, S. entomelas (7.7%); blue rockfish, S. mystinus (6.2%); olive rockfish, S. serranoides (4.2%); Pacific mackerel, Scomber japonicus (2.8%); vermilion rockfish, Sebastes miniatus (2.7%); speckled rockfish, S. ovalis (2.7%); greenspotted rockfish, S. chlorostictus (2.5%); and squarespot rockfish, S. hopkinsi (2.4%). Fishing effort during this quarter was directed almost exclusively toward "rockcod", as it was for the same period in 1976. (23pp.

Planetary astronomy

The authors profile the field of astronomy, identify some of the key scientific questions that can be addressed during the decade of the 1990's, and recommend several facilities that are critically important for answering these questions. Scientific opportunities for the 1990' are discussed. Areas discussed include protoplanetary disks, an inventory of the solar system, primitive material in the solar system, the dynamics of planetary atmospheres, planetary rings and ring dynamics, the composition and structure of the atmospheres of giant planets, the volcanoes of IO, and the mineralogy of the Martian surface. Critical technology developments, proposed projects and facilities, and recommendations for research and facilities are discussed