Application of the bomb radiocarbon chronometer to the validation of redfish Centroberyx affinis age

Abstract

Validation of methods used to estimate fish age is a critical element of the fish stock assessment process. Despite the importance of validation, few procedures are available that provide unbiased estimates of true fish age and those methods that are available are seldom used. The majority of these methods are unlikely to provide an indication of the true age of individual fish, data that are best suited to the validation process. Accelerator mass spectrometry analyses of radiocarbon in selected regions of Centroberyx affinis otoliths were used to validate the age estimation method for this species. Radiocarbon data from the otoliths of C. affinis with presumed birth dates between 1955 and 1985 described the increase in ocean radiocarbon attributable to the atmospheric detonation of nuclear weapons in the 1950s and 1960s. The results confirm the longevity of C. affinis and demonstrate the effectiveness of the bomb radiocarbon chronometer for the validation of age-estimation methods.