Dear Colleague,

You are cordially invited to participate in the International Cephalopod Symposium and Workshop to be held from 17-21 February 2003 in Phuket, Thailand. The International Cephalopod Symposium and Workshop is hosted by Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Thailand, on behalf of the Cephalopod International Advisory Council (CIAC).

Three Workshop sessions will be organized during 17-18 February 2003 : (1) developing standard for modeling and describing cephalopod growth, (2) systematics of Indo-west Pacific loliginids and octopods, and (3) Idiosepius: ecology, biology and biogeography of a mini maximalist. Subsequently, the Symposium session will be held during 19-21 February. It will be included plenary sessions, oral presentation of research papers, and display of the posters. Theme of the Symposium is : cephalopod biology, recruitment and culture.

Phuket is the largest island in the country, located in the Andaman Sea coast of Thailand, the Indian Ocean. It is surrounded by mountain greenery, clear blue sky, refreshing breezes, sparkling blue ocean and fine white sandy beaches. It's paradise on the beautiful island of Phuket. It is also a major base of fisheries and biology research on the west coast of Thailand. Apart from the Fishery Government Officer section, three Fisheries Institutions are located on the Phuket Island, i.e. Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC), Andaman Sea Fisheries Research and Development Center, and Andaman Sea Shrimp Research and Development Center. The Phuket Marine Biological Center is worldwide famous for marine biology research. Cephalopod collections in the Reference Collection of the PMBC are available and ready for researchers who interested to examine. However, fresh cephalopod specimens are also easy to pick up from the local markets or fish landings around the Island. The Workshops will be organized at these Fisheries Institutes.

We welcome all cephalopod experts who may like to present papers or posters, but we also welcome non-experts who are friends of cephalopods and who may only want to come to meet with world cephalopod scholars and enjoy the surrounding of Phuket, Pearl Island of Asia. All participants are regards as formal delegates and share the privilege of all activities of the Symposium and Workshop.