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CARE MEETING MINUTES APRIL 18-20, 2006

OPENING REMARKS:
Patrick McDonald, chair of CARE 2004-2006, opened the meeting at 8:45 am, April 18, 2006 at
the NOAA-Fisheries Sand Point facility, Seattle, Washington. He welcomed everyone to the
workshop, and we moved right into introductions.

INTRODUCTIONS:
Participants introduced themselves and stated the agency represented:
Philip Cowan ADFG-Homer
Willy Dunne ADFG-Homer
Chris Russ ADFG-Homer
Kristen Munk ADFG-Juneau
Jodi Neil ADFG-Juneau
Joan Brodie ADFG-Kodiak
Darlene Gillespie CDFO
Shayne MacLellan CDFO
Cal Blood IPHC
Joan Forsberg IPHC
Linda Gibbs IPHC
Stephen Wischniowski IPHC
Greg Cailliet MLML
Delsa Anderl NOAA-Fisheries-AFSC
Irina Benson NOAA-Fisheries-AFSC
John Brogan NOAA-Fisheries-AFSC
Dan Foy NOAA-Fisheries-AFSC
Chris Gburski NOAA-Fisheries-AFSC
Betty Goetz NOAA-Fisheries-AFSC
Charles Hutchinson NOAA-Fisheries-AFSC
Chris Johnston NOAA-Fisheries-AFSC
Craig Kastelle NOAA-Fisheries-AFSC
Dan Kimura NOAA-Fisheries-AFSC
Charlie Piston NOAA-Fisheries-AFSC
Wes Shockley NOAA-Fisheries-AFSC
Jon Short NOAA-Fisheries-AFSC
Nikki Atkins NOAA-Fisheries-NWFSC-PSMFC
Betty Kamikawa NOAA-Fisheries-NWFSC-PSMFC
Patrick McDonald NOAA-Fisheries-NWFSC-PSMFC
Omar Rodriguez NOAA-Fisheries-NWFSC-PSMFC
Josie Thompson ODFW
Sandra Rosenfield WDFW
Jennifer Topping WDFW

An attendee sign up sheet was passed around. (Attachment 1. - 2006_CARE-Attendee_List.xls)

Anderl and Kastelle briefly discussed some building safety protocols.

MEETINGS:
McDonald and members updated everyone on upcoming meetings:

Technical Sub-Committee (TSC) - May 2- June 7, 2006 - Newport, Oregon
Sablefish Workshop - Jan 07
2008 Western Groundfish Conference - California
Skate Symposium - uly 18, 2006 - New Orleans
Dendrochronology (including a sclerochronology section) - May 30, 2006 Newport, Oregon

APPROVAL OF AGENDA:

All participants approved the 2006 agenda proposed by the chair (Attachment 2.
CARE_Draft_Agenda_4_13_06.doc ).

APPROVAL OF 2004 MEETING MINUTES:
All participants approved the 2004 meeting minutes (Attachment 3.
CARE2004draftminutesfinal.doc).

WORKING GROUP UPDATES:

2002 C ARE TO CARE RECOMMENDATIONS revisited

Charter: Goetz announced there was no meeting prior to CARE. Members felt that updates
were finalized at the last meeting, MacLellan recommended we look at the charter once more
and pass it in order to provide guidelines for responsibilities and procedures for new members
and officers. Munk added that once it was passed the Charter Committee should disband. Goetz
will get some hard copies to review and final action was tabled until Thursday.

Manual/Glossary: MacLellan felt the lingcod and Dover sole sections could be discussed and
possibly passed for entry into the manual this meeting. Lisa Lysak would like to enter the Dover
sole portion in memorium to Bob Mikus. MacLellan stated that hake was fairly complete other
than the need for figures and some minor text and margin questions to be addressed. There were
no new changes requested for the glossary. Final actions were tabled until Thursday.

Web site: Short continues as web site manager. He would like to create a search form for
CARE members. The manual with its new cover has been added to the site, and that was all that
was required. (Completed)

Summary of Age Reading Methods: McDonald reminded members that some issues and
concerns regarding this table had yet to be addressed. Some columns needed to be renamed and
new ones added, to make it more valuable for users. Thoughts thrown out were placing
validation elements on a second graph, the value of knowing annual production numbers as well
as the number of agers associated with those numbers. To accommodate this and to make the
table less unwieldy, the thought was to break the table into two. MacLellan, Short and Kamikawa
formed a group to work on this. Blood felt the vice chair should update these tables annually.
This would also help keep CARE members more active between biennial sessions.

The CARE Age Structure Exchange (CASE) form was addressed as well, proposing that it
could also be more helpful to end-users. Anderl, Munk, and McDonald formed a workgroup to
look into updating the form.

Website link: Short demonstrated some links he had added to the CARE website, where a
species could be brought up and linked with the agencies involved.

Structure exchanges: The vice chair records and reports the exchanges. Exchanges are initiated
through recommendation by the TSC or independently by the agencies. Munk reported the
following exchanges:

Hake - CDFO & NOAA-Fisheries-NWFSC-PSMFC
Sablefish - DFG, CDFO, NOAA-Fisheries-NWFSC-PSMFC, & NOAA-Fisheries AFSC
Pacific Ocean Perch (POP) - ADFG-Juneau & NOAA-Fisheries AFSC
Pacific Cod - DFG (Kodiak) & NOAA-Fisheries-AFSC

There were a total of 12 exchanges, involving 5 agencies, 10 readers, 4 species, and 613
specimens.
The 2006 sablefish exchange involved 4 agencies and 6 readers, with comparisons confined to
one age estimate per agency. Each agency contributed 20-25 specimens (sharing the burden of
putting a sample together), for a total of 89 specimens. The sablefish exchange is expected to be
completed by June 2006.

AGE & GROWTH LAB OVERVIEW AND UPDATE BY AGENCY

ADFG: Munk reported for their three lab locations at Juneau (central), Homer, and Kodiak. The
Juneau lab has statewide responsibilities. The Homer and Kodiak labs have part-time agers. In
Juneau, the Age Determination Unit (ADU) has three age reader positions and one support
technician position. Only the technician and one age reader position is filled. Funding of the
ADU is primarily through a Federal grant, with mandated responsibilities for aging of sampled
commercial or research harvested groundfish. Without long term stable funding, filling another
position would only reduce available work time for the current two employees. A closure this
past winter of a dominant yelloweye rockfish fishery has resulted in fewer specimens for aging:
yelloweye have routinely contributed to one of the higher volume/priority-species aged. The
ADU database is called AegIS, "Age Information System". AegIS is still a work in progress and
is presently only "age data in, age data out". Munk discussed two potential age reading
concerns: underaging of rougheye rockfish (results in a "wall effect" in graphed data), and
potential "range error" (due to banding vs. splitting) in aging of Southeast Alaska lingcod. She
noted aging of Southcentral lingcod does not have the same problem. The ADU is conducting
age related work: "otometrics" comparing somatic growth to otolith accretion; documenting
otolith accretion in Pollock; and a partial age "slot" validation measuring bomb radiocarbon in
shortspine thornyhead. She also mentioned distinction of two growth forms (fast vs. slow) for the
tentative splitting of rougheye rockfish species, with possibility of separating these two forms by
otoliths. The ADU tests precision on approximately 20% of all specimens. They calculate a
variety of precision statistics using an EXCEL template, however primarily use "average percent
error" (APE) and apply APE control limits for species error. The Homer and Kodiak labs do a
20% precision test on species aged, between or within reader(s).

Morning Break 10:10 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.

Post break announcements:
Cal Blood will be hosting yet another potluck Weds., starting at 6:00pm, eating probably around
6:30-7:00pm. Some fishes will be provided, BYOB and hor d'oeuvres or side dish. Cal will
bring maps.

Joan Forsberg is collecting $ for the mugs and t-shirts.

Greg Cailliet will be arriving tomorrow from Moss Landing and give his presentation on their
projects.

AGENCY UPDATES (cont.)

CDFO: MacLellan reported there are nine - ten people on staff, ageing 50-80% of the time. One
person is totally dedicated to salmon age database doing little to no age determination. They are
looking into succession planning with many agers within 2-5 years of retirement. FTE and salary
caps may hinder hiring. Numbers of fish aged are set by a priority committee where caps are also
established. These caps have helped to establish schedules. The Species at Risk Act (SARA) has
affected how or whether a species is listed. This enabled some funding to be earmarked for
certain rockfish species and provided funding to hire an additional reader to age these species.
CDFO has added thornyspine to species that is requested to age in 2006. Sardines may also be
aged as herring samples may decline this coming year. Some work on developing a few shellfish
species such as urchin, geoduck and horse clams has occurred. Four new compound scopes have
been purchased, miscellaneous accessories and some ergonomic parts. CDFO is also looking
into microtomography (internal imaging) and its potential use, as it could imply no otolith
processing. Recent research included a Pacific cod ageing study. (See Attachment 4. -
CDFOSpeciesAgedPerYear xls, for recent historical age reading numbers.)

IPHC: Forsberg reported that they age about 30,000 halibut annually from two main sources:
survey and commercial. The IPHC has a total of 5 agers; 4 of them are production readers. The
goal is to age 1500-2000/per regulatory area, of which there are nine. The lab uses Tray biens
for storing their otoliths. Steve Wischniowski reported on current research at the IPHC: one
project involves trace element and stable carbon/oxygen isotope analysis to determine halibut
nursery origin and to determine differences between true annuli and checks. Another project is a
marginal increment analysis which will be followed by an edge type study. Cal Blood added that
edge codes have been problematic due to time of year most of IPHC's otoliths are collected and
the wide geographic area included. Steve Wischniowski is also investigating methods for aging
sleeper sharks. Age determination methods for Pacific halibut were validated in 2004 by bomb
radiocarbon. The halibut radiocarbon reference curve has been used by numerous researchers
validating other west coast species.

NOAA-Fisheries-AFSC: Kimura reported that their lab has a staff of 13 of which 9 are primary
agers. Quality control can be found at their website and they reage at 20%. Craig Kastelle is their
validation specialist working with radiometric and C-14 bomb carbon age validation. Jon Short is
the IT specialist handling AGEDATA database, website, otolith inventories, preparing otoliths
for ageing, and managing the photograph website. A Biometrician serves as the overall program
manager. Production ageing is handled by two team leaders: Betty Goetz, assigned to Bering Sea
& Aleutian Islands pollock, rockfish, forage fish and skates; and Delsa Anderl, working with
Gulf of Alaska pollock, sablefish, Atka mackerel, Pacific cod. Charles Hutchinson is assigned as
specialist on new species. NMFS has embraced Ecosystem management. This has brought
several newer species, other than those of commercial concern, to the forefront, ie. skate,
grenadiers and sculpins. There is also pressure to age species skipped due to difficulty of ageing,
to determine whether or not they are being over fished, ie. rougheye rockfish, shortraker
rockfish, Greenland turbot and shortspine thornyhead rockfish. Research projects are divided
between age validation work and developing ageing methods for new species. A good number of
research projects and papers are completed, in the works, or nearing completion regarding age
validation and age method development for new species. www.afsc.noaa.gov

CDFG: no representation this year.

ODFW: Josie Thompson introduced herself, letting us know she has been in her new position
only since Friday. She is anxious to dig into the job and looking forward to spending time
looking at species of concern for her lab while at this workshop. Josie will begin working with
Black rockfish.

WDFW: Topping reported that the WDFW lab works for Ecological Investigations and they
currently have two full-time groundfish agers. This year s production species included Canary
rockfish (a new species for them this year), English sole, black rockfish and spiny dogfish, while
ongoing species include: misc. rockfish, lingcod, sardine, yellowtail rockfish, yelloweye
rockfish, and petrale sole. They maintain a production level of 100 structures/day. Samples are
precision tested, depending on species, every 4th, 10th, or even every fish. WDFW is currently
contracted to age dogfish spines for the UW dogfish program for the next five years.

NOAA-Fisheries NWFSC-PSMFC: Kamikawa and Rodriquez filled us in on the activities at
their lab. Money has been expended to make ergonomic upgrades to their equipment. Their
ageing is driven by stock assessments. They currently have 6 full time agers and aged 66,000
structures the past two years. Ageing priorities for 2006 include sablefish, Pacific hake,
darkblotched rockfish, Pacific Ocean perch, canary rockfish, English sole and arrowtooth
flounder. Different age structures/techniques were assessed for petrale sole and English sole and
the lab will age these new species as well as arrowtooth flounder, using the break and burn
method. Pacific hake research that involves annual growth increment measurements to examine
environmental effects on growth is ongoing. In 2005 two agers visited the CDFO lab in Nanaimo
for a hands on ageing session for POP and hake.

Lunch break 12:10 p.m. to 1:40 p.m.

RECOMMENDATIONS

2005 TSC TO CARE RECOMMENDATIONS.

There were no recommendations to CARE from the 2005 meeting of the TSC.

2004 CARE to CARE:

McDonald revisited 2004 recommendations. Some discussion ensued regarding the feasibility of
hands on workshops between the biennially held CARE workshops. Travel and funding issues
would probably always be an issue, and funding for specific species would probably need to be
driven by the data users. MacLellan stated that it was probably inevitable that these workshops
be on an as needed if able to ($) basis.

The statistics chapter recommended to be added to the manual in 2004 is still in progress.

Rodriguez expressed a concern that the CARE manual states samples collected in June and July
should not be exchanged due to edge difficulties, yet samples continue to be collected at that
time and become part of exchanges. Members admitted that it cannot always be avoided, but
should be attempted. Rodriguez thought the wording could be adjusted in the manual.

PRESENTATIONS

Craig Kastelle (NMFS): Age Validation of POP using Bomb Radiocarbon
With POP being the most abundant and commercially important rockfish species
harvested it is important to establish as much accuracy in age determination as possible
since ages are used to determine the harvest quotas. POP ages are generally less than 20
years, some over 50 years, and the maximum age around 100 years. Previous work
pooled otoliths, not validating them on an individual fish basis where structures were
selected for fishes born during Bomb testing years. Kastelle concludes that ages have
been validated for fish between the ages of 18 and 47 years with bomb radiocarbon.
There is some possible underageing.
Wischniowski added that the method can t get closer than ±3.

Darlene Gillespie (CDFO): Progress on Developing a Method for Ageing Pacific Cod
CDFO began a 2 year process of looking at different structures for ageing their
Pacific cod to determine which would be the most reliable for production ageing.
First Year: the 1st and 2nd dorsal fin ray sections of younger fish 20-60cm size, 0-2 years
were first looked at because they were best supported by length frequency data. For
otoliths, thin sections and baked thin sections were used. They found that the 1st to 3rd
annuli on thin sections were the most vague due to checkiness, and that it was best to start
their thin sectioning as close to the base as possible. 5-6 sections per ray were taken.
Three agers read all structures and the following conclusions were made:
All readers had a greater confidence in ages derived from dorsal fin rays.
First and 2nd dorsal fins produced more consistent ages than either otolith
preparation.
APE was lowest for dorsal fins across all age groups
There was less overlap in length at age and annuli measurements for fins vs.
otoliths.
During the 2nd year of the study dorsal fins were collected from 500 cod ranging in length
from 20-80 cm. Approximately 5 6 sections were taken starting from the base of the
fin-rays. Two readers aged all 1st dorsal fin XS (not independent) and resolved.
Measurements of the 1st -4th annuli were taken along the longest axis. Ageing criteria
were established for ageing Pacific cod using fin rays. In determining a final age,
generally all fin sections were looked at. Some checkiness and vagueness is still a
problem, but not as great as with otoliths. Data analysis of annual growth measurements
appears useful in establishing location of the 1st & 2nd annulus. CDFO will continue to
investigate the use of dorsal fin rays to age Pacific cod next year and refine the age
criteria once data analysis of 2004 samples has been done.

Afternoon Break 3:20 p.m. 3:40 p.m.

Charles Hutchinson (AFSC): Developing Ageing Criteria for Shortraker Rockfish: Beginning
in 2000, the AFSC Age and Growth Program began investigating new methodologies for
ageing shortraker rockfish. The methodology known as thin sectioning proved better than
the break and burn method at eliminating burning artifacts and glassy areas in the reading
surface of the otolith. Hutchinson felt the preparation of shortraker otoliths had been
refined and was aiding agereading positively. Using the thin section method, three
different strategies were examined based on growth patterns seen on the otoliths,
including determination of a "transition age," an age where the fish s somatic growth
slows. Ages using the different strategies were compared to radiometric ages to
determine which strategy was most accurate. The use of radiometrics was also used to
validate the transition age in shortraker rockfish. Brief description of the three age
reading methods: Strategy 1 involved lumping annuli, in which they felt they were
underageing. In Strategy 2, annuli were split out and the result was overageing. Strategy
3 was a combination of the two, whereby lumping was felt appropriate up to a critical
transition year of approximately 23 years. The samples will be retested using a transition
year of 20. Charles plans to have the ages retested with a second reader. Conducting
radiometric work and also applying bomb radiocarbon, if he can get enough older fish,
would be extremely valuable in age determination/validation of this difficult to age
species.

Jodi Neil (ADFG): Age Validation of Shortspine Thornyhead Rockfish Using Bomb
Radiocarbon: Jodi is currently grinding Shortspine thornyhead rockfish otoliths down to
their core to the first year of growth. This will allow for a partial age slot
validation
using the bomb radiocarbon signal put into the environment during the 1950's and
1960's.

(Brief discussion ensued re: post bomb testing validation. The slow downward curve of
Bomb C-14 during the post testing years would make validation very difficult. Did Chernobyl
leave a mark?)

Jon Short (AFSC) Age reading demonstration; an interactive ageing program:
Jon gave us a show and tell demonstration of ARD or Age Reading Demonstration which
he has put together on the AFSC website. Nine species are included in the
demonstration, with photos of otoliths of varying degrees of ageing difficulty for each
species. A visitor to this site can click on the annuli, ageing the specimen, and then check
their work with another click. The Demonstrations can show the public, stock assessors
and other agers, how and what we do. Look for it at www.afsc.noaa.gov along with other
cool stuff for agers.

Shayne MacLellan (CDFO) Greenland Halibut Ageing Workshop Summary:
Shayne described the workshop which she and Delsa attended in St. John s,
Newfoundland. The Greenland Halibut is a species aged by many agencies. The
agencies were not in agreement as to how or what structures to age. The Russians were
using scales. . Winnipeg had been looking at a variety of aging methods. With otoliths,
now taking precedence, different methods were being investigated including whole
otolith ageing, baking otoliths, thin sections, acetate peels, staining, and the use of
different lighting techniques. In learning about CARE they have realized they don t
totally need to reinvent the wheel.

McDonald thanked the presenters, who were awarded a thankful round of applause.

ELECTION OF 2006-2008 OFFICERS

Prior to the nomination and election of officers, MacLellan announced that Nanaimo would like
to host CARE in 2008 if members felt it would be feasible or desired, mentioning international
travel restraints. It is the 100th year anniversary of the Pacific Biological Station, and would be a
fitting addition to the celebration. Members liked the suggestion and Brodie added that taking on
an officer duty would probably assure that person s attendance.

Chair: Kristen Munk
Vice Chair: Shayne MacLellan
Secretary: Jodi Neil

All officers were elected unanimously.

Adjourn for the day, 5:10 p.m.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

PRESENTATIONS (cont.)

MLML: Greg Cailliet reported on age validation research being carried out at Moss Landing
Marine Laboratories and the Pacific Shark Research Center. MLML is part of the California
State University system, and therefore is, primarily involved in educational activities, much of
which involves graduate student (M.S. thesis) research. PSRC is a federally-funded
chondrichthyan research facility housed within MLML.
Cailliet s colleague, Allen Andrews, is the primary person leading the radiometric age
validation work, both using natural radionuclides like Radium 226 and Lead 210 ratios and bomb
radiocarbon. With chondricthyian species (sharks and rays) vertebrae, dorsal spines, caudal
Field Code Changed
thorns and neural arches have been used for ageing. MLML and PSRC operate by stimulating
students to come up with thesis projects, many of which involve radiometric analysis for age
validation of various bony and cartilaginous fishes. Although radiometric applications did not
work for cartilaginous fishes (sharks), they were able to conclude that many deep-sea fishes such
as rockfishes (species in the genera Sebastes and Sebastolobus) are long-lived, ranging up to a
hundred or more in total longevity. Skate and shark validations have also been attempted, some
of which were suggested, and several more species are in progress. Recently, work conducted on
corals for biogenic habitat studies, have confirmed that the extreme longevities of some of their
colonies have made them also highly vulnerable to trawling activities. The red tree coral lives
100 years, while bamboo coral and precious coral could possibly live to older than 200 years.

Scope work and discussions from 9:30 a.m.
noon at scheduled work stations.

Morning Break 10:00 a.m. to 10:20 a.m.

Lunch 12:00 p.m. to 1:15 p.m.

Continue with collaborative scope work and discussions.

Adjourn for the day, 4:30 p.m.

Potluck social hosted by Cal Blood and family this evening at 6p.m.
Thursday, April 20, 2006

Continuation of collaborative scope work 8:00 a.m. - 11:05 a.m.

11:05- noon: Wrap-up Group Session
Anderl, Munk and McDonald brought back their workgroup draft on the CASE form. Members
viewed the form, which should be more useful to end-users. The form was unanimously
accepted with minor modifications and the pdf or Excel version of this form will be placed on
the website and linked to the exchange table.

Kamikawa, MacLellan and Short worked on the Summary of age Reading Methods table,
reworking the unwieldy table into two separate tables, one table is proposed to contain species
age methods by agency and validation to date, while the other would list how many of what
species and number of readers, for total age per year. It was suggested that perhaps a key be
added for acronyms, and it was recommended that the summaries be updated annually via the
vice chair.

McDonald made a motion to accept the revised forms and tables. Brodie 2nd, motion was
approved unanimously. (Attachments 5 & 6, drafts, still being worked on.) The above two form
updates are formalized below as recommendations under 2006 CARE Age Reading Workshop
Recommendations.

McDonald inquired as to folk previewing the Charter. Brodie made a motion to accept the
member charter, Goetz 2nd, there were no objections. (see Attachment 7.) Upon reviewing 2004
minutes, this had already been accomplished. The Charter committee officially disbanded.

Members felt a CARE to TSC recommendation was appropriate to encourage funding for
participants, in regards to holding the 2008 meeting in Nanaimo, to coincide with the 100th
anniversary of the PBS. The recommendation passed unanimously (see 2006 CARE Age
Reading Workshop Recommendations.).

It was recommended that the lingcod and Dover sole chapters be entered into the manual on the
website. McDonald motioned that we accept these chapters, Rodriguez 2nd, the motion passed
unanimously.

Atkins volunteered to design a logo for the 2008 CARE meeting. Newport and Nanaimo could
combine efforts into this since the meeting will take place in Nanaimo in conjunction with the
100th anniversary of the Pacific Biological Station. MacLellan stressed again the importance of
keeping members active between CARE meetings, and recommends that design ideas be
completed a year prior to the 2008 meeting. Proceeds from items made with the logos helps
purchase meeting snacks and beverages.

Munk mentioned that Michael Schirripa was uncertain the 07 Sablefish Workshop would take
place, but felt that a Sablefish ageing workshop should happen for calibration and in an effort to
compile reference collections.

Anderl recognized staff members from the AFSC Age and Growth Program who took time out
of their day to setup, cleanup, etc. for the meeting.
Group photos were taken.

2006 CARE AGE READING WORKSHOP RECOMMENDATIONS

2006 CARE TO CARE RECOMMENDATIONS

1. The CARE Age Structure Exchange (CASE) table presently identifies inter-agency exchanges
occurring on species of interest to the TSC, or other inter-agency calibrations as needed. CARE
recommends to itself to modify the CASE table and process. We will continue to track structure
exchanges per the CARE Charter, however, we will drop precision test results from the CASE
table. We will develop a CASE invoice, accessible on the CARE website. Upon initiating an
exchange, the originating agency will contact the CASE coordinator for an exchange id. number.
The originating agency will conduct the exchange, fill out all information in the CASE invoice,
and submit it to the CASE coordinator upon its completion. . The CASE coordinator or designee
will update the website to allow linked access within the CASE table. Inclusion of precision
statistics is optional.

2. CARE recommends making changes to the Summary of Age Reading Method, regarding
format and information included. The current table info will be split into two tables; one to
include Methods information (agency, species, method, validation, area, structure, validation
& validation citation). The method, validation and citation columns would provide anecdotal
information that will be updated. The method column would include all methods used
historically or currently and provide dates when methods were adopted. The validation column
would indicate method and extent (e.g. all ages, up to age 30, longevity) and the validation
citation column would indicate dates and contact. The new 2nd table would include agency,
species, calendar year and number of fish per species aged. Total fish and total species aged
would be calculated. Numbers of reader involved per calendar year for all fish aged will also be
included. It is recommended that this data would reside on the website and that a small relational
database would house the data. A mechanism would be developed to query the database to
assess the breadth and depth of expertise for species by agency for all species aged.
Development of database will be in small steps. The Vice-chair will be responsible for updating
both tables on an annual basis.

2006 CARE to TSC Recommendation

1. The biennial CARE meetings have been held traditionally at the Seattle NMFS-AFSC
facilities. The Pacific Biological Station (PBS), Nanaimo representatives offered to host the
2008 CARE meeting. Two reasons were given for this proposed departure. First, this invitation
coincides with the PBS 100th anniversary (1908-2008). Second, agency travel policies can
prohibit age readers from different participating agencies and labs to attend the CARE meeting at
the Seattle AFSC facilities. The CARE requests TSC members to support this recommendation
and encourage travel funding. This rotation will allow PBS to share in the hosting
responsibilities and for greater CARE participation among their personnel. It would also
appropriately acknowledge PBS s substantial contributions to the field of fish age and growth.

Lunch 12:00 1:15 p.m.

1:15 3:30 p.m. Continuation of microscope collaborative work and discussions, meeting photos
were viewed.

Meeting adjourned 3:30 p.m.

End of 2006 CARE workshop