Recent work on alfonsino otoliths has shown that the techniques used to estimate age from otoliths
have severely underestimated the age of these fish (SC‐09‐29). As such a new ageing technique is
needed. This requires the development of a protocol for ageing, training some ages in this technique
and then testing the technique on a sample set of otoliths.
Key to this process is to get a number of fish agers involved from multiple labs so that all otoliths from
the region can be aged using the same techniques.
Objectives:
1. Develop a protocol for ageing sectioned otoliths of alfonsino.
2. Age a selection of otoliths from a length stratified sample of fish.
3. Compare ages between workshop participants.
A workshop has been planned in Noumea (New Caledonia) to develop the alfonsino age protocol.
The workshop will be held at the premises of the Pacific Community (SPC) 13‐17 October 2025