Effects of Aging Uncertainty on the Estimation of Growth Functions of Major Tuna Species

Abstract

Fishery stock assessment requires accurate specification of the growth function of target species, and aging uncertainty is an important factor that affects the estimation of growth parameters. In this study, we used simulations to study the effects of two types of aging uncertainty, aging error and sampled age range, on the parameter estimation of the Von Bertalanffy growth function, including asymptotic length (L∞), growth coefficient (k), and theoretical age in the year at zero length (t0) of five important tuna species. We found that the uncertainty of the estimated growth curves increased with increasing aging errors. When aging errors were fixed among ages, the effects of age range on estimation error of growth parameters were different among species and growth parameters. When the aging error increased with age, the estimation uncertainty of L∞ and k was the greatest when only young age groups were sampled, while the estimation uncertainty of t0 was the greatest when only old age groups were sampled. Therefore, reducing the aging error and sampling individuals with a wider age range are important for increasing the accuracy and decreasing the uncertainty of the estimated growth function, which will further reduce the uncertainty in fishery stock assessment.