FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 87, NO. 4, 1989 



lem of early growth increment destruction by 

 core matrix expansion can be partially overcome 

 through application of band radius statistics; 

 however, this technique may introduce bias to 

 final age estimates. With the further compilation 

 of band radius statistics and the apphcation of 

 techniques such as discriminate function analysis 

 fin spine counts may also bring final age esti- 

 mates closer to "true" age. 



3) Sagittal otoliths are more difficult to collect 

 and process and have more variable growth 

 rates and morphologies than fin spines. While 

 age estimates based on external features of 

 sagittae are perhaps more subjective, sagittae 

 may provide more detailed information from in- 

 ternal features such as "daily" increments, valu- 

 able for age estimation of young of the year. 



4) Extensive mark/tag recapture studies are 

 needed to vaUdate the true meaning of the peri- 

 odicities assumed to be annual. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENT 



A number of people and organizations made it 

 possible to collect samples for this study, includ- 

 ing the fishermen and fishing teams of the billfish- 

 ing tournaments, the Hawaiian International 

 Billfishing Association, the Pacific Gamefish Re- 

 search Foundation, Hawaiian Fish Distributors, 

 Jerry Kinney of Volcano Isle Fish Wholesalers, 

 and the Hawaiian Fishing Agency. Bruce Wel- 

 den, Lisa Natanson, Carol Hopper, and AUison 

 Mallory provided much needed assistance in col- 

 lecting samples at the tournaments. Eric Ma- 

 suda. University of Hawaii, assisted in hard- 

 part readings for the APE analyses. Eric Prince 

 and Dennis Lee of NMFS Southeast Fisheries 

 Center, Miami, donated spine samples from the 

 largest female marlin (748 kg) caught in this study 

 and contributed valuable input. This work is a 

 result of research sponsored in part by NOAA, 

 the National Sea Grant College Progi-am, and the 

 Department of Commerce; under gi-ant numbers 

 NA80AA-D-00120 and NA81AA-D-00070, under 

 project numbers R/NP-1-llC, R/F-81, and R/F- 

 84 through the California Sea Grant College Pro- 

 gram, under project number PM/M-2ff through 

 the University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Pro- 

 gram; and in part by the California State Re- 

 sources Agency. The David Packard Foundation 

 granted additional travel support. 



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