C.A.R.E. MEETING MINUTES APRIL 28-30, 1998
Calvin Blood, chair of CARE, opened the meeting April 28th at NMFS, Sandpoint, Seattle, Washington at 8:30 am. Cal made brief remarks welcoming all to CARE and then proceeded to the introductions.
INTRODUCTIONS:
Participants remained seated, introduced themselves, and stated the agency they represented:
Alaska Department of Fish and Game (Scott Meyer and Kristen Munk)
Alaska Fisheries Science Center (Delsa Anderl, Mark Blaisdell, Betty Goetz, Charles
Hutchinson, Chris Johnston, Craig Kastelle, Dan Kimura, Debbie Nebenzahl, and Nancy Roberson)
California Department of Fish and Game (Tom Barnes, Brenda Erwin, Mike Fukushima,
Lorraine Sinclair, and Marci Yaremko)
Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada (Shayne MacLellan, Joanne Rankin)
International Pacific Halibut Commission (Todd Barto, Calvin Blood, Joan Forsberg,
Linda Gibbs and Tom Kong)
Marine Fisheries Research Foundation (Mike Hosie)
Moss Landing Marine Laboratory (Allen Andrews and Erica Burton)
Old Dominion University/Virginia Marine Research Laboratory (Stephen Wischniowski)
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (Marion Mann, Jennifer Menkel, Bob Mikus and J. Bruce Pedersen)
Washington Department of Fisheries and Wildlife (Greg Bargmann, Sandy Rosenfield and John Sneva)
APPROVAL OF PROPOSED AGENDA:
All participants approved the 1998 agenda proposed by the chair (see Appendix 1)
MINUTES OF THE LAST CARE CONFERENCE (1996):
Copies of the last meeting’s minutes were made available for participants, but approval was deferred until the Thursday, April 30th session.
UPDATE OF LIST OF THE SPECIES READ BY EACH AGENCY:
Each agency was asked to take the species list as “homework”, update as necessary and return before the end of the conference. (See Appendix 2)
STATUS OF THE AGE DETERMINATION MANUAL:
Shayne MacLellan of DFO asked if everyone had received a copy of the latest edition of the ageing manual. Few participants noted that they had and Shayne proceeded to give some background information that the manual had been rushed through publication and distributed at the 1997 TSC meeting. Agency reps were then supposed to put the manual in the proper age unit’s hands. Mark Wilkins of the TSC offered to come in and discuss the matter. He said he had delivered the manuals as asked to the previous years TSC MEETING and that they practically vanished from the table. He had assumed that the manuals had been distributed to the proper age unit personnel. He had no answer as to what had happened to the manuals. Shayne then passed around a sign-up sheet to find out who needed copies of the manual.
We held a discussion on how best to display the ageing manual. Brenda Erwin recommended to TSC we place the age manual on an Internet site via PSMFC. We also discussed what we could do to improve scanning of photographs. A short discussion on the merits of flatbed-scanners and drum scanners ensued. Brenda Erwin volunteered to head up a committee to look into placing the ageing manual on the Internet and we agreed to fill out the committee on Thursday.
Discussion of the Glossary:
A long and lively discussion of the Ageing Manual Glossary took place for the next three hours. Many of the definitions were re-worded. Betty Goetz, Shayne MacLellan, and Kris Munk (Glossary Committee members) led the discussion. (See Appendix 3.)
NEW BUSINESS:
RECOMMENDATIONS FROM TSC TO CARE:
The TSC recommends that CARE add lingcod to the list of species to be reviewed at its spring, 1998 meeting. Inter-agency calibration is needed for stock assessment work, which utilizes age data from WDFW, NMFS-Tiburon, and DFO. WDFW has agreed to take the lead in coordinating a 300 fish age structure exchange among these agencies and will summarize the between-lab age reading results. Responding to TSC’s first recommendation to CARE (the lingcod review), the Chair noted that the lingcod exchange would be reported by John Sneva, Washington Department of Fisheries and Wildlife on Wednesday, April 29th.
The CARE submitted a preliminary report of its April 30-May 3, 1996, Biennial Meeting to the 1996 TSC Annual Meeting. The TSC appreciated this timely report, submitted within a week of the CARE Meeting. To date, however, the TSC has not received a final report of the 1996 CARE Biennial Meeting and would appreciate receiving one as soon as it becomes available.
On the second recommendation of TSC to CARE the Chair asked that Betty Goetz of AFSC provide a final set of minutes from the 1996 CARE Meeting for Mark Wilkins of AFSC to take to the 1998 TSC Meeting in Olympia, Washington on Tuesday, May 5th.
BERING SEA POLLOCK WORKSHOP:
Betty Goetz gave a report on the proceedings of the Bering Sea Pollock Workshop. (See Appendix 4.)
EL NINO – LEAVING ITS MARK, ANYONE?
Cal Blood led a discussion on any reports of unusual otolith growth seen in the last year. We discussed how in years past hake (Pacific Whiting) had exhibited abbreviated growth thought to have been caused by oceanographic conditions of El Nino. The consensus of the group was that it was too early to tell whether El Nino will leave a mark on any fish.
PRESENTATIONS ON COMPARATIVE READINGS AND RESEARCH:
Between Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday afternoon conference members listened to the following topics:
Dover Sole Ageing Workshop, 1990-1997 – Marion Mann, ODFW
Halibut otolith Exchanges Between the IPHC and ADF&G, 1991-1997 – Scott Meyer,
ADF&G
Comparison of Break and Burn vs. Break and Bake Preparation Methods for Ageing
Rockfish – Scott Meyer, ADF&G
Preliminary Comparison of Pacific Mackerel and Pacific Sardine age composition and growth rate data – Marci Yaremko, CDF&G
Age Determination of Blackgill rockfish – Tom Barnes, CDF&G
Growth of Jack Mackerel – Deborah Nebenzahl, NMFS
Results of 1998 Sablefish Exchange – Kris Munk, ADF&G
Using otoliths to age lingcod – Kris Munk, ADF&G
Ling Cod Exchange – John Sneva, WDFW
Using Pb-210/Ra-226 disequilibrium age validation in rockfish – Craig Kastelle, NMFS
An Introduction to Radiometric Age Determination with Application to the Pacific Grenadier – Allen Andrews, MLML
Age Determination of the Giant Grenadier – Erica Burton, MLML
(Handouts from these talks are collected under Appendix 5.)
OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Mike Hosie of Marine Fisheries Research Foundation passed out a final draft announcing a fisheries conference in Portland, Oregon, scheduled July 16 and 17 1998. (See Appendix 6.)
HANDS ON WORK WITH MICROSCOPES AND PHOTOGRAPHS:
The following species were observed and discussed: Lingcod, Walleye Pollock, Pacific Mackerel, Antarctic Toothfish, Pacific Halibut, Blackgill Rockfish, Sablefish, and Dover Sole. Sandy Rosenfield and Shayne MacLellan worked on Lingcod finray techniques; Steve Wischniowski asked all Sablefish agers to look at his Antarctic Toothfish otoliths and provide suggestions and ideas on their ageing; Tom Barnes, Bob Mikus and Cal Blood looked at Blackgill Rockfish otoliths with Tom then asking Bob to take them back to his lab and give them a closer look.
WRAP UP SESSION:
Jim Ianelli of AFSC gave a brief talk on how modelers are using precision tests in their stock assessments. He encouraged age-readers to continue their work in validation and precision testing as the gains are substantial in reducing errors.
The only change to the 1996 CARE Conference minutes was to correct Rachel Miller’s address at NMFS Tiburon. This being done, the minutes were then approved.
A continuation of the manual/glossary discussion ensued. We agreed to add sections on validation, include a 3-D photo/drawing of an otolith, International Birthdate, and update the glossary. Betty Goetz, Kris Munk and Shayne MacLellan will carry out this work. A deadline for the first draft is due May 15.
An Internet web site committee was formed and consists of Brenda Erwin, Marion Mann, Delsa Anderl, and Mark Blaisdell. Shayne MacLellan is the primary contact person for age manual materials.
Cal Blood passed out an introductory letter from the IPHC regarding Dr. Valeri Vassilikov, a Russian researcher well known to many West Coast ageing units. Dr. Vassilikov is developing a computer method for ageing fish. (See Appendix 7.)
Nominations of officers for CARE Conference 2000:
Chair: Kris Munk, ADF&G
Vice-chair: Brenda Erwin, CDF&G (if Brenda is unable to commit, Shayne MacLellan, DFO agreed to serve in Brenda’s place.)
Secretary: Bob Mikus
RECOMMENDATIONS FROM CARE TO TSC:
CARE recommends an Internet web site be established within the proposed TSC web site on the PSMFC web site to improve the exchange of ideas and information between age readers. This site would also include the ageing manual.
CARE recommends a permanent liaison be established between TSC and the current Chair of CARE to coordinate the exchange of recommendations between TSC and CARE. This position should come from existing membership of TSC (for example, assigning the AFSC representative to TSC to deliver recommendations to CARE, since the CARE meeting has always been held at AFSC). This coordination is particularly important in the year when CARE does not meet.
CARE recommends more emphasis be placed on age validation. Validation is still the forgotten age requirement. This may have to be accomplished at the expense of production age reading in the short term. Expert readers employed by the agency conducting the research should carry out validation.
CARE recommends TSC review the Terms of Reference to include the study of other species important to the management agencies. We have seen a rise in the interest of a number of pelagic species in recent years. We respectfully ask that TSC clarify under the Membership and Officers section which “other groups” CARE may include at its conference. Should there be a distinction between participants and observers? (See Appendix 8. The Terms of Reference were last revised and adopted by TSC on Jun 19, 1986.)
RECOMMENDATION FROM CARE TO CARE:
CARE recognizes it must return to a more hands-on format. The new Chair of CARE will look into the feasibility of lengthening the conference to allow more time for age-readers to work with problems that can only be solved at the microscope.
CLOSE OF CONFERENCE 1998