We came in with our full load of bluefin but unlike years past where we usually unload at Scripps dock we came right in to fisherman's landing. Here Norm pulled the Shogun in as close as he could- and we unloaded each fish individually from the well in a sling of water. The hard part was that we had to walk, and run the fish- 400 feet up a ramp- across the dock- and down a sidewalk to get to the Tunabago truck, that has been built specifically for transporting fish. The driver of the truck had done a masterful job of pulling it into the crowded Fisherman's landing parking lot and Joe Welch and Ryan from the Monterey Bay Aquarium met every fish- and unloaded them into some cold Monterey ocean water within the truck. The fish lit up immediately and were looking super after their relatively short 12h transport from the ocean. These bluefin circled beautifully in the tank, and the entire load was transported aboard a big rig truck, 8h over land, through LA and up the Interstate to Monterey where they were unloaded successfully into the tuna research and conservation tank. All 14 fish in the load (about 12-18 lbs each) survived and were reported to look very good in their new home. Two fish from our prior year's collection are in the tank and will help the new fish learn to feed. We hope later in August to implant heart rate tags in the fish and conduct some research studies on bluefin- the olympians of the sea. We headed back out aboard the Shogun and fished for the latter part of the afternoon-Pilot whales, Risso dolphins greeted us. Hopefully tomorrow we'll find some more fish.

Barbara Block