Age verification of north Atlantic sprat

Type Article
Date 2019-05
Language English
Author(s) Moore Claire1, Lynch Deirdre1, Clarke Maurice1, Officer Rick2, Mills Jane3, Dufour Jean-Louis4, Brophy Deirdre2
Affiliation(s) 1 : Marine Inst, Oranmore, Galway, Ireland.
2 : Galway Mayo Inst Technol, Dublin Rd, Galway, Ireland.
3 : Marine Scotland, Marine Lab, 375 Victoria Rd, Aberdeen AB11 9DB, Scotland.
4 : Inst Francais Rech Exploitat Mer, 150 Ctr Manche Mer Nord, F-62200 Boulogne, France.
Source Fisheries Research (0165-7836) (Elsevier Science Bv), 2019-05 , Vol. 213 , P. 144-150
DOI 10.1016/j.fishres.2019.01.018
WOS© Times Cited 2
Keyword(s) Sprat, Age verification, Otolith, Marginal increment analysis, Age structure
Abstract

Sprat is a pelagic species of increasing commercial interest in European waters, yet little is known about its biology or the drivers of its population fluctuations. As a result, the species is currently without an analytical assessment or forecast across much of the North East Atlantic. The objectives of this study were to: verify otolithbased age estimation of sprat; assess the precision, bias and reproducibility of these age estimates; and, determine the age structure of sprat within one North East Atlantic management unit (Celtic Seas ecoregion). Samples were collected over three years (2011, 2013 & 2014) from both commercial catches and scientific surveys. Counts of daily increments in otoliths were used to establish when the first annulus was formed. The seasonal development of annuli was validated using marginal increment analysis. Age estimates were found to be both accurate and reproducible with no intra-reader bias and limited inter-reader bias (average coefficient of variation 2.7%). The age estimates indicate that the stock is comprised primarily of age 0, 1 and 2 year olds. This study has provided previously unavailable information on the biology and age structure of this species which is required to improve assessment and sustainable management of the species.

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