This report records the presentations and discussions from the Canada-United States Yellowtail flounder Age Reading Workshop held in St. John's, Newfoundland, 28-30 November 2000. Participants were from the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Centre, the St. Andrews Biological Station, the Bedford Institute of Oceanography, the Gulf Fisheries Center, The Northeast Fisheries Science Center, Newfoundland Inland Fish and Wildlife Division and the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries. The Workshop reviewed the current methods and structures (scales and otoliths) used in ageing Yellowtail flounder (Limanda ferruginea in eastern Canada and the United States. Topics included biology, standardization of terminology, standardization of reading protocols, comparison of ages from both otolith and scales, new techniques to prepare samples, statistics, age validation, training, otolith/scale exchange programs and reference collections. As a result, the Workshop made 15 recommendations on developing a minimum set of standards for ageing, training, reference collection organization, statistical analysis and quality control. It concluded that slow growing cold water species are often under-aged using the whole otolith method. Progress on implementation of these recommendations will be reviewed in 3 years.
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