December 5, 2013 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission announces the release of the Proceedings of the 2013 Black Sea Bass Ageing Workshop. The report is number seven in a series of Commission reports that document fish ageing techniques and seek to improve consistency in the collection and processing of ageing samples across all relevant state, federal and academic laboratories on the Atlantic coast. Fish age and growth data are key components of stock assessments that improve our understanding of species’ population dynamics. With age samples being collected, processed, and read by scientists at several institutions every year, it is important to ensure all ageing labs follow consistent protocols.
The latest report summarizes the proceedings of a July 2013 workshop, which brought together fishery scientists from the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, Massachusetts Department of Marine Fisheries, Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries and South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, to explore current ageing techniques for black sea bass and evaluate the consistency of age data available for future stock assessments of the northern stock unit (Maine – Cape Hatteras, North Carolina).
The workshop was held in response to the recommendations of the Northeast Regional Stock Assessment Review Committee following its peer review of the 2011 black sea bass benchmark assessment. In particular, the Committee identified the lack of sufficient ageing data to allow for the use of a more robust stock assessment model in the black sea bass assessment. The workshop focused on comparing methodologies used by laboratories ageing black sea bass to evaluate the consistency of age data available for future stock assessments. This was the first meeting between laboratories ageing northern stock fish to compare ageing methodologies. An exchange of ageing structures was completed prior to the workshop to inform discussions on ageing interpretation criteria. Workshop recommendations, results of the exchanges, and summaries of the discussions and working sessions during the workshop are included in the report. The workshop was funded by the Partnership for Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Science and was held at the Massachusetts Department of Marine Fisheries Annisquam River Marine Fisheries Field Station in Gloucester.
Proceedings of the 2013 Black Sea Bass Ageing Workshop as well as similar reports on tautog, winter flounder, bluefish, Atlantic croaker, red drum, Atlantic striped bass, American shad and American eel can be found on the Commission website on its Research page at http://www.asmfc.org/fisheries-science/research. Click here for a direct link to the black sea bass report. For more information, please contact Jeff Kipp, Stock Assessment Scientist.