Welcome to the AFSC otolith collection database!

This database is an inventory of fish ageing samples (otoliths) from the Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands, and Gulf of Alaska collected and aged by the Alaska Fisheries Science Center. The database includes otoliths from Resource Assessment and Conservation Engineering (RACE) surveys and the North Pacific Groundfish Observer Program domestic and foreign collections. Survey collection inventories contain records from 1971 to present, although the exact number of samples collected is only available from 1986 to present. Foreign observer records are available from 1982 to 1990 and domestic observer records are from 1986 to present.

The database is searchable by common name and returns numbers aged and collected by area. Vessel and cruise information is available for survey collections, and collection numbers for the Observer program are available by NMFS area. Questions regarding these collections should be directed to Jon Short. Click here to see a summary of RACE and Observer collections.

Disclaimer: The information in this database are approximations subject to daily updates.

Historic otolith collections have been transferred to the Burke Museum. See their website for information on specimens collected more than three years ago.