Ravaging of the river herring population by midwater trawlers and an absence of round-the-clock environmental police protection were the hot topics at a meeting between Cape and Islands Rep. Tim Madden and members of the newly formed Martha’s Vineyard Dukes County Fishermen’s Association Friday.

This Tuesday, June 30, the Vineyard Conservation Society’s annual meeting will be held at the Wakeman Conservation Center off Lambert’s Cove Road in Vineyard Haven at 5:30 p.m. The society will have an opportunity to preview the New Views of Ocean Life Census of Marine Life program, a highly ambitious endeavour that began in 2000 and involves thousands of scientists from more than 80 nations.

A light dinner will be served. For details, call 508-693-9588.

Of course, when you are working on the largest cooperative project in the history of marine biology, a 10-year, $600 million census of all the world’s marine life, you need to know something about the tax regime in 14th century Czarist Russia.

Let professor Jesse Ausubel, cofounder of the project, explain.

Tomorrow night’s crescent moon appears under the bright planet Saturn. The two are in the zodiacal constellation Leo. Saturn is the ringed planet and looks great through a telescope. Anyone with a powerful scope will have no trouble pointing it toward the planet and the moon.