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Updated estimate of the growth curve of Western Atlanticbluefin tuna

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2011

Victor R. Restrepo ,
Guillermo A. Diaz ,
John F. Walter ,
John D. Neilson ,
Steven E. Campana ,
David Secor  and
Rebecca L. Wingate
Victor R. Restrepo*
Affiliation:
International Seafood Sustainability Foundation, P.O. Box 11110, McLean VA 22102, USA
Guillermo A. Diaz
Affiliation:
NOAA Fisheries, Office of Science and Technology, 1315 East West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA
John F. Walter
Affiliation:
NOAA Fisheries, Southeast Fisheries Science Center, 75 Virginia Beach Dr., Miami, FL 33149, USA
John D. Neilson
Affiliation:
Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Biological Station, 531 Brandy Cove Road, St. Andrews, NB, CANADA E5B 2L9
Steven E. Campana
Affiliation:
Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Bedford Institute of Oceanography, POB 1006, Dartmouth, NS, Canada B2Y 4A2
David Secor
Affiliation:
Chesapeake Biological Lab, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Solomons, MD 20688, USA
Rebecca L. Wingate
Affiliation:
Chesapeake Biological Lab, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Solomons, MD 20688, USA
*
a Corresponding auteur:vrestrepo@iss-foundation.org

Abstract

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The curve used until recently by the International Commission for the Conservation ofAtlantic Tunas (ICCAT) to represent the growth of western Atlantic bluefin tuna,Thunnus thynnus, was estimated using tagging information and modalsizes that corresponded primarily to very young fish (ages 1–3, primarily). The estimatedmaximum average size from this curve is very large (382 cm), which could be a result ofthe scarcity of large bluefin in the data used. Recently, scientists have developedtechniques for reading ages from bluefin ear bones (otoliths); the accuracy of the agereadings has been validated with bomb radiocarbon dating. These age readings are primarilyfor large bluefin (ages 5 and older), and indicate slower growth and older ages than waspreviously assumed. However, an analysis of these data resulted in growth curves thatpredicted very small mean sizes for the youngest age group, which could be a result of thelack of small fish in the data used. In this study, we combine the otolith-based agereadings with the size frequency distributions of small (ages 1–3) bluefin caught by purseseiners in the 1970s where the age groups are distinctly statistically as well as visibleto the eye. We analyzed the two datasets jointly using a maximum likelihood approach andassumed that variability in length-at-age increases with age. The resulting growth curvepredicts sizes at young and old ages that are very consistent with observed data such asthe maximum sizes observed in the catch and the modal sizes for very young bluefin. Theresulting curve is also very similar to the curve used by ICCAT for eastern Atlantic andMediterranean bluefin.

Keywords

Atlantic bluefin tunaThunnus thynnusWestern stockGrowthvon Bertalanffy
Type
Research Article
Information
Aquatic Living Resources , Volume 23 , Issue 4 , October 2010 , pp. 335 - 342
Copyright
© EDP Sciences, IFREMER, IRD 2011

References

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