  Let n_g denote the number of numerical semigroups of genus g. Bras-Amoros
conjectured that n_g possesses certain Fibonacci-like properties. Almost all
previous attempts at proving this conjecture were based on analyzing the
semigroup tree. We offer a new, simpler approach to counting numerical
semigroups of a given genus. Our method gives direct constructions of families
of numerical semigroups, without referring to the generators or the semigroup
tree. In particular, we give an improved asymptotic lower bound for n_g.
