Eel ageing by otolith reading
is a pillar of data collection and analysis for national eel assessments. Previous WKAREA workshops have established age estimation criteria for European and American eel but there is a need for a larger scale age intercalibration reading in order to apply the newly established age estimation criteria, and to measure the accuracy and precision of readers.
This workshop will:
- Exchange a collection of European eel otolith pictures, including known age eels, with samples prepared using different protocols and representing all the eel sub-populations and their respective environmental types from Portugal, Spain and France
- Conduct an age intercalibration process with institutions throughout Europe, applying the ageing criteria defined during the Workshop on Age Reading of European and American Eel (WKAREA) to the otolith image library compiled by the workshop
- Develop recommendations on any aspects of the age estimation criteria that
could be refined to increase the standardization, precision and accuracy of
eel age estimation
