We had a busy day! Operations started at 5:00 am with a CTD cast (conductivity-temperature-depth) to examine the oceanographic conditions in the area of our first set. The rest of the day was spent conducting 2 longline sets for sharks and running some acoustic backscatter transects, and a final CTD.

Those of us who were not too tired fished (unsuccessfully!) for Humboldt squid. The good news was we caught and put a satellite tag on a pretty nice sized mako shark. Most of the makos and blue sharks we catch in this area are juveniles and pups of fork length 51 inches (130 centimeters) and less -- that's the length from the tip of their nose to the fork in their tail. This one was 67 inches (170 centimeters) and we put on both SPOT and PAT tags. SPOT tags are attached to the shark's dorsal fin, and they send a signal to a satellite tag every time the shark's fin comes out of the water. The PAT tag is programmed to pop off the shark after a designated time.

We should be getting some tracking data from the SPOT tag within days, so we'll let you know when to check our live data page. Below is a picture that Carl Safina took of the mako as we were reeling it toward the ship. -- ABOARD THE R/V DAVID STARR JORDAN, off the Southern California Coast.