Sulikowski et al.: Age and growth estimates of Leucora/a ocellata 



411 



will be difficult to detect and successful implementation of 

 fisheries management plans will remain problematic. Our 

 study provides some basic age and growth parameters for 

 the winter skate and it supports the hypothesis that L. ocel- 

 lata, like other elasmobranchs, require conservative man- 

 agement because they grow slowly and are susceptible to 

 overexploitation ( Brander, 1981; Kusher et al., 1992; Zeiner 

 and Wolf, 1993; Frisk et al., 2001). 



Acknowledgments 



We thank Captain Joe Jurek of the FV Mystique Lady 

 for the collection of skates. We also thank Noel Carlson 

 for maintenance of the fish at the U.N.H. Coastal Marine 

 Laboratory and Charles Walker for use of his equipment. 

 This project was supported by a University of New Hamp- 

 shire Hubbard Endowment Fund and the U.N.H. Center 

 for Marine Biology. 



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