The Age and Growth Program ages otiliths from various sources. This collection is from the RACE survey dataset where specimens were collected during groundfish trawl and acoustic surveys
Purpose:
The Age and Growth Program is a service organization that provides age data that contributes to our basic understanding of a species whether it is in the context of sustainable fisheries, species conservation, or species ecology. The program is primarily focused on age data for age structured modeling of exploited fish populations.
Access_Constraints: There are no legal restrictions on access to the data. They reside in public domain and can be freely distributed.
Use_Constraints:
User must read and fully comprehend the metadata prior to use. Applications or inferences derived from the data should be carefully considered for accuracy. Acknowledgement
of NOAA/NMFS/AFSC, as the source from which these data were obtained in any publications and/or other representations of these, data is suggested.
Contact_Organization: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC) Resource Ecology and Fisheries Management Division (REFM)
Quality control is provided through 20% repeated readings by experienced age readers. Ageing methodologies are validated using known age fish, tagged fish, marginal increment studies, OTC marked fish, and radiometric studies.</
Logical_Consistency_Report:
Extensive error checking has been done. See RACEBASE metadata.
Completeness_Report:
Species type and number vary over time as per requests. Some collections are opportunistic but most are collected to determine age at each length. Prior to 1985 weight information was not standard.
Contact_Organization: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC) Resource Ecology and Fisheries Management Division (REFM)
