Otolith ageing of North Sea whiting

A workshop on "Otolith ageing of North Sea whiting" will be held in Hirtshals, Denmark, from 23 to 28 October 1998. The workshop will be organized by the North Sea Centre, Denmark, and will receive funding from the European Commission, as part of the European Fish Ageing Network (EFAN), under the specific RTD programme in the field of Agriculture and Fisheries (FAIR).

The aim of the workshop is to improve stock assessment techniques by ensuring the age of fish caught can be accurately ascertained. Stock assessment is vital in the prediction of future stock sizes and the prevention of over-fishing, and the age of the fish population plays an essential role in this.

The major topics to be addressed in the workshop will include:

- Review of existing knowledge on otolith ageing and ageing problems of whiting;
- Estimating growth of whiting by analysis of size frequency distributions;
- Using patterns in otolith microstructures to infer annual increment patterns in whiting otoliths;
- Analysing growth from otoliths of individuals with known age;
- Providing guidelines for the interpretation of otolith annuli in whiting;
- Suggesting an intercalibration programme for the ageing of whiting between laboratories, based on the exchange of reference material;
- Evaluating possibilities for re-calibrating existing age data;
- Ensuring that new age readers are well calibrated against existing age readers in other institutes.
For further information, please contact:

The Marine Laboratory
Mr. A. Newton
Victoria Road
Aberdeen
United Kingdom
Tel. +44-1224-876544; Fax +44-1224-295511
E-mail: newtonaw@marlab.ac.uk