648 



Fishery Bulletin 104(4) 



Aleutian Islands (lanelli et al.'') and 0.20 in the North 

 Atlantic (Darby et al.~). These values are more consis- 

 tent with surface age estimates. 



We feel that age estimates made from stained cross 

 sections are an improvement over surface age esti- 

 mates for Greenland halibut. However, validation of 

 the age estimates produced by these methods is nec- 

 essary. Given the large discrepancies that we encoun- 

 tered in some specimens (10 to 20 years) these ages 

 can be roughly tested with tag-recovery or radiometric 

 methods. 



The methods used in the present study may have 

 application in other hard-to-age species. They are a 

 practical alternative to serial thin sections because the 

 preparation time is shorter and allows the method to be 

 adapted for production aging. The embedding process 

 also preserves the structure of fragile otoliths which 

 can be damaged during the cutting and break-and-burn 

 processes. 



Aknowledgments 



This publication was funded by the Joint Institute for 

 the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean (JISAO) under 

 NOAA Cooperative Agreement no. NA17RJ1232, con- 

 tribution no. 1143. The project was administered by 

 Don Gunderson. We thank Mark Blaisdell, Lyle Britt, 

 Charles Hutchinson, Chris Johnston, Craig Kastelle, 

 and Jon Short for technical advice on this project. Dan 

 Cooper and Margaret Treble provided valuable Green- 

 land halibut life history information and advice on the 

 manuscript. 



Literature cited 



Alton. M. S., R. G. Bakkala, G. E. Walters, and P. T. Munro. 



1988. Greenland halibut Reinhardtiua hippoglossoi- 

 des of the eastern Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands 

 region. NOAA Tech. Rep. NMFS 71. 31 p. 



6 lanelli, J. N.,T.K. Wilderbuer, and T.M. Sample. 2004. As- 

 sessment of Greenland turbot in the eastern Bering Sea 

 and Aleutian Islands. In Stock assessment and fishery 

 evaluation report for the groundfish resources of the Bering 

 Sea/Aleutian Islands region, p. 427-459. North Pacific 

 Fishery Management Council, 605 W. 4'^ Ave., Ste. 306, 

 Anchorage, AK 99501-2252. 



' Darby, C., B. Healey, J. Mahe, and W. R. Bowering. 

 2004. Greenland halibut {Reinhardtius hippoglossoides) in 

 subarea 2 and divisions 3KLMN0: an assessment of stock 

 status based upon e.xtended survivors analysis, ADAPT, 

 and ASPIC analyses, with stochastic projections of potential 

 stock dynamics. NAFO SCR Doc. 04/55, 53 p. 



Bowering, W. R. 



1978. Age and growth of Greenland halibut, Reinhard- 

 tills hippoglossoides (Walbaum), in ICNAF subareas 

 2-4. ICNAF Res. Bull. 13:5-10. 

 1982. Population dynamics of Greenland halibut in 

 the Gulf of St. Lawrence. J. Northw. Atla. Fish. Sci. 

 3:141-147. 

 Bowering, W. R., and K. H. Nedreaas. 



2001. Age validation and growth of Greenland halibut 

 (Reinhardtnis luppoglossoides (Walbaum)): a compari- 

 son of populations in the Northwest and Northeast 

 Atlantic. Sarsia 86:53-68. 

 Chang, W. Y. B. 



1982. A statistical method for evaluating the reproduc- 

 ibility of age determination. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 

 39:1208-1210. 

 Chilton, D. E., and R. J. Beamish. 



1982. Age determination methods for fishes studied 

 by the Groundfish Program at the Pacific Biological 

 Station. Can. Spec. Publ. Fish. Aquat. Sci., 60 p. 

 Cooper, D. W., K. E. Pearson, and D. R. Gunderson. 



In press. Annual fecundity and an indirect estimate of 

 natural mortality rate for Reinhardtjus hippoglossoides 

 (Greenland turbot or Greenland halibut) from the Bering 

 Sea and Aleutians Islands. Fish. Bull. 

 Haug, T., and B. Gulliksen. 



1982. Size, age, occurrence, growth, and food of Green- 

 land halibut Reinhardtius hippoglossoides (Walbaum) 

 in coastal waters of western Spitzbergen. Sarsia 

 67:293-297. 



Hoenig, J. M. 



1983. Empirical use of longevity data to estimate mor- 

 tality rates. Fish. Bull. 81:898-903. 



Hoenig, J. M., M. J. Morgan, and C. A. Brown. 



1995. Analyzing differences between two age determi- 

 nations methods by testing symmetry. Can. J. Fish. 

 Aquat. Sci. 52:364-368. 

 Kimura, D. K., and J. J. Lyons. 



1991. Between-reader bias and variability in the age- 

 determination process. Fish. Bull. 89:53-60. 

 Kuznetsova, E. N.. M. V. Bondarenko. and A.D. Morozov. 



2001. Age composition and growth rate of black halibut 

 Reinhardtius hippoglossoides of the Norwegian-Barents 

 Sea stock. J. Ichthyol. 41(2):143-149. 

 Lear, W. H., and T. K. Pitt. 



1975. Otolith age validation of Greenland halibut {Rein- 

 hardtius hippoglossoides). J. Fish. Res. Board Can. 

 32:289-292. 

 Quinn. T. J., and R. B. Deriso. 



1999. Quantitative fish dynamics, 542 p. Oxford LTniv. 

 Press, New York, NY. 

 Richter, H., and J. G. McDermott. 



1990. The staining of fish otoliths for age determina- 

 tion. J. Fish. Biol. 36:773-779. 

 Ricker, W. E. 



1975. Computation and interpretation of biological sta- 

 tistics offish populations. Fish. Res. Board Can. Bull. 

 191, 382 p. 

 Snedecor, G. W., and W. G. Cochran. 



1967. Statistical methods, 6"^ ed., 593 p. Iowa State 

 University Press, Ames, lA. 



