Estimated production figures for 1 January
through June 2008. Total production
figures were 14,839 with 4,598 test ages and
185 examined and determined to be unageable.
Species
Specimens
Aged
Flathead sole
1,650
Rex sole
596
Northern rock sole
465
Yellowfin sole
317
Bering flounder
58
Kamchatka flounder
112
Walleye pollock
6,020
Sablefish
1,196
Atka mackerel
147
Rougheye rockfish
861
Shortraker rockfish
690
Dusky rockfish
861
Quillback rockfish
41
Warty sculpin
683
Plain sculpin
780
Bigmouth sculpin
90
Yellow Irish lord
272
Committee of Age Reading Experts (CARE) Turns 25
The Committee of Age Reading Experts (CARE) held its meeting for 2008 at the Pacific Biological Station, Nanaimo, British Columbia, as part of the 100th anniversary celebration of the famous fisheries laboratory. (Totally unnoticed was the recognition that CARE itself, founded in 1983, could have been celebrating its own 25th anniversary!)
CARE was founded by the Technical Subcommittee of the International (Canada/U.S.) Groundfish Committee. Since its founding, CARE has been an important point of interaction for age readers on the Pacific Coast of North America from California to Alaska. Historically all age readers are welcome to the CARE meetings, but core membership has come from California, Oregon Washington, and Alaska, NMFS laboratories, and the Pacific Biological Station.
The work of CARE has always been to provide a hands-on workshop that allows fish age readers to come together and compare their ageing methodology and ageing criteria, so that their age estimates would be as accurate and consistent as possible. In recent years significant blocks of time have been provided to present otolith research and age validation studies.
The fact that CARE meetings have been held every 2 years since 1986, almost always at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center, is a testament to the recognized value of CARE.