Estimated production figures for the period
from 1 January through 31 March 2009.
Total production figures were 6,386,
with 1,586 test ages and 80 examined
and determined to be unageable.
Species
Specimens
Aged
Flathead sole
470
Rex sole
993
Northern rock sole
263
Yellowfin sole
477
Greenland turbot
240
Pacific cod
573
Walleye pollock
1,797
Pacific ocean perch
341
Northern rockfish
847
Dusky rockfish
293
Quillback rockfish
52
Bigmouth sculpin
40
New and Improved Age Reading Demonstration (ARD) Web Site
The Age and Growth Program has updated its Age Reading Demonstration (ARD) interactive Web site to include many new features. As with the original version, visitors are able to place annulus marks on otolith images and then automatically mark the otolith image with marks from an experienced age reader.
The new version takes advantage of the graphical interactivity of Adobe Flash and allows users to zoom in and out of images, drag a movable scale bar around the image, view ageing statistics, and navigate through image thumbnails. ARD presents otoliths from various species and of varying levels of ageing difficulty, which demonstrates that otoliths from different species often require completely different ageing strategies, and that otoliths from even an easy species can present difficult challenges.
The purpose of the ARD Web site is not to "teach" age reading. An age reader typically must view thousands of otoliths through a binocular microscope in order to understand growth patterns before acquiring proficiency on a species. Instead, the purpose of the ARD Web site is to give scientists and the general public a better appreciation of how difficult age reading really is.
A future goal will be to allow the comparison of ageing criteria, between labs, on a real-time basis using similar software. The ARD Web site can be viewed at: http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/refm/age/interactive.htm.