Songer, S.

Zenner, A.

Open Marine Archive

22  | ICES WKNARC REPORT 2011 
 
7 Collate information on the quality status of age reading at MS 
institutes (ToR g) 
Quality Status Of Age Reading At MS Institutes. 
The table (Quality Status Of Age Reading At Institutes.xls) is downloadable sepa-
rately. 
7.1 Internal Quality Management 
Three categories of internal quality management for age reading have been identi-
fied: 
• Quality of the age readings is managed by an individual age reader. CS 
(calcified structures) preparation and age reading procedures and manuals 
may not exist for all stocks/species. Typically there is only one age reader 
for each stock/species and there are no bilateral agreements with readers at 
other institutes. After an interval of time has passed since the initial read-
ings (usually a minimum of several weeks), the reader re-reads a percent-
age of each sample of calcified structures. If the readings for an individual 
CS do not agree and the discrepancy cannot be resolved, that CS is ex-
cluded from the assessment. Original CS may not be catalogued and stored 
in a way that will prevent damage, loss or deterioration. This is the least 
preferable level of internal quality management, as calcified structures and 
images can be subconsciously memorised with increasing use, leading to 
the development of unintentional bias. This situation can be improved by 
the establishment of reference collections and including some samples 
from a reference collection in each sample of CS that are re-read, by setting 
up bilateral agreements and by participation in relevant age calibration ex-
changes (Ex) and age calibration workshops (WKAC). It is important that 
reference collections are sufficiently large to avoid frequent use of individ-
ual images. 
• Quality of the age readings is managed by two or more readers. CS prepa-
ration and age reading procedures and manuals exist for all stocks/species. 
At intervals, each reader re-reads a percentage of the Calcified Structures 
(CS) read by the other reader(s). If the readings for an individual CS do not 
agree and the discrepancy cannot be resolved, that CS is excluded from the 
assessment. There may be bilateral agreements with readers at other insti-
tutes. The number of age readers may be low and it is difficult to obtain 
meaningful results from the analysis of age reader bias. Original CS are 
catalogued and stored in a way that will prevent damage, loss or deteriora-
tion. There is some participation in relevant age calibration exchanges (Ex) 
and age calibration workshops (WKAC). This situation can be improved 
by the establishment of reference collections and including some samples 
from a reference collection in each sample of CS that are re-read, by setting 
up bilateral agreements with other institutes and increased participation in 
relevant age calibration exchanges (Ex) and age calibration workshops 
(WKAC). The management of all documents is controlled and properly 
managed (unauthorised changes to quality documents are not permitted). 
It is likely that institutes that meet these requirements may have, or be ca-
pable of obtaining quality management certification, e.g. ISO 9001: 2008. 
ICES WKNARC REPORT 2011 |  23 
 
• There are several age readers for each stock/species and bilateral agree-
ments exist with age readers at other institutes who read CS from the same 
stock/species. CS preparation and age reading procedures and manuals ex-
ist for all stocks/species. Reference collections are used for each 
stock/species and these are updated at intervals with new CS, to reduce the 
possibility of unintentional bias caused by too frequent exposure to the 
same CS or (CS image). There are regular scheduled exercises to monitor 
changes in the age reader performance. There are specified training pro-
grammes that require the trainee to be closely supervised for a period of 
time, before they can enter the cycle of quality management for age readers 
who contribute data to assessments. A quality manual exists and this de-
fines how reference collections are managed, how training programmes 
are managed and how quality checks and controls are carried out. The age 
readers take part in all relevant age calibration exchanges (EX) and age 
calibration workshops (WKAC). This is the most preferable level of inter-
nal quality management. Original CS are catalogued and stored in a way 
that will prevent damage, loss or deterioration. The reference collections 
are managed using an image database (N.B. WebGR can be installed lo-
cally for this purpose). The management of all documents is controlled and 
is properly managed, typically by means of an electronic document reposi-
tory. Unauthorised changes to quality documents are not permitted and 
printed versions will be watermarked as uncontrolled documents. It is 
likely that Institutes that meet these requirements may have, or be capable 
of obtaining quality management certification, e.g. ISO 9001: 2008 and ISO 
17025 (accreditation). 
7.2 External Quality Management 
Accreditation is the highest level of external quality management and two MS insti-
tutes currently hold national accreditation, CEFAS (ISO 17025 - UKAS) and IVLO 
(ISO 17025 - BELAC). 
7.3 Study on Harmonised methodology of age estimation Procedures 
Most of European fish stocks are assessed using age-based models. In this context, 
the quality of these data plays a vital role in management of fish resources. Errors in 
age estimation can be caused by accuracy and/or precision issues (Campana, 2001) 
and they have to be detected and quantified. Accuracy refers to the closeness be-
tween measurements and their true value. Precision is defined as the variability in 
the age readings. Within and between age reading laboratories there will inevitably 
be disagreements between age readers.  
The European Commission supported the development of a European Fish Ageing 
Network with two Concerted Actions, i.e. EFAN (European Fish Aging Network) 
and TACADAR (Towards Accreditation and Certification of Age Determination of 
Aquatic Resources) from 1997 to 2006. The overall theme of both CAs was to harmo-
nise the fish age estimation, mostly carried out by interpreting calcified structures. 
Since 2006, the ICES Planning Group on Commercial Catch, Discards and Biological 
Sampling (PGCCDBS) organises each year of calibration exercises and workshops on 
calcified structures to estimate precision and relative/absolute bias in the age estima-
tions from readers based in different ageing laboratories. 
24  | ICES WKNARC REPORT 2011 
 
In 2007, the PGCCDBS meeting decided to produce the first international age length 
key (ALK) for the sole in the Eastern English Channel (ICES area VIId) in 2008. In the 
future, the international ALK should develop requiring the harmonisation of the age 
estimation procedures. 
Proposition:  
The objective for this proposal is to develop a harmonised methodology and quality 
assurance process for age estimation procedures for a small region with a group of 
countries, before trying to achieve general harmonisation of these procedures for all 
ICES areas. Firstly, we need to identify the region and common species/stocks to be 
used in this trial harmonisation. The techniques for each step from sampling of the 
calcified pieces to the storage/archiving then need to be described and compared per 
country and per species/stocks. Common tools for quality indication and assurance 
need to be developed for each step of the age estimation procedure. The most qualita-
tive procedures will then be used for optimisation and harmonisation of the protocols 
(methods of preparation, material etc.) per species/stock and among species/stocks. 
This will then result in a harmonised quality control mechanism and the develop-
ment of guidelines for good techniques and good operating procedures. According to 
these harmonised protocols, we will also need to develop consistent training for new 
age readers (per species/stock). These new sets of harmonised protocols will give 
more strength for accreditation processes and will strengthen already accredited labs. 
This study was presented during the Regional Coordination Meeting for the North 
Atlantic (RCM NA) 2010 and during the ICES Planning Group on Commercial Catch, 
Discards and Biological Sampling (PGCCDBS) 2011 meeting. 
WKNARC is supporting the idea of this study with a small number of case studies. 
7.4 Proposal for the use of a standard grading system by age readers of 
their own readings to register the confidence level the reader has in 
their otolith readings, reflecting the quality of the data. 
PGCCDBS recommends the use of a standard grading system by the mackerel age 
reader of his/her own readings (e.g. high, medium, low) be considered during the 
WKNARC as a standard that could be applied in all age calibration ex-changes 
and/or WKs (ref. WKARMAC 2010).  
It is a recommendation of the WKARMAC 2010 Workshop to register the confidence 
level the reader has in their otolith reading, reflecting the quality of the data. Most 
readers should use a scale of 3 levels of quality:  
• Rings can be counted with certainty: 1  
• Rings can be counted, but with difficulty and some doubt: 2  
• Rings cannot be counted, the otolith is unreadable: 3  
WKNARC supports the PGCCDBS recommendation for the use of a grading system 
by the age reader of their own readings in all age calibration exchanges and/or WKs. 
Reading the ages of calcified structures is a subjective process, where the reader uses 
their acquired knowledge of CS growth zone patterns and the biology of a species-
stock, to estimate the age of individual CS that are believed to be from that species-
stock. Typically, age readers who provide the age data that are used in stock assess-
ments are experienced in reading the CS of the species-stocks studied at their insti-
tutes. Several different scales of different lengths have been used at MS institutes and 
ICES WKNARC REPORT 2011 |  25 
 
currently, 3-point and 4-point scales are used to allow the age readers to record their 
confidence in their age readings of individual calcified structures. The points on the 
quality scale of the readings should refer to an age interpretation protocol for the spe-
cies-stock, to ensure that common principles are used to define the quality of the age 
readings and minimise the subjective nature of individual age reader quality judg-
ments. 
The idea of a grading scale is important, as the readers own assessment of the quality 
of the ageing structure may well be associated with a bias in interpretation results. 
E.g. it may well be that ‘poor otoliths’ are simply otoliths from e.g. slow-growing in-
dividuals of the stock, or are from specific parts of the distribution area. Growth is 
very variable in fish, and age readers should expect variety in the patterns that are 
used to interpret the age of the calcified structures. It is important to be able to iden-
tify such potential bias in the age data. There are many biological, physiological and 
environmental influences on the growth and some species-stocks may have few calci-
fied structures that are easy to interpret. The use of lowest quality scale value would 
enable the age reader to give an age estimate, even when the age reader considers the 
pattern within an ageing structure as poor, knowing that this data will be treated 
with caution. This in turn enables a revaluation of the poor otoliths and an investiga-
tion of which structures the readers should count. The age distribution of the given 
year/sample can then be updated accordingly and the age reading protocol revised. 
There is also the risk of introducing bias if only the "good" readings are considered 
because only a portion of the population is considered, thus the end-users need to be 
aware of the grading system and what it represents. ‘Bad’ readings should not be ig-
nored, but it should be examined if a particular pattern lies behind the assignment of 
‘bad’ (growth, migration, stock, etc).  
While in most cases the availability of validated CS should eventually increase the 
readers’ confidence in their age readings, there is a lack of validation for many spe-
cies-stocks. Age data is provided by different countries. Stock assessors and others 
need an indication of the confidence level that can be applied to the age data that is 
used to provide a diagnosis of the status of a species-stock. Therefore it is very neces-
sary to have a scale indicating data quality (confidence in the assigned age data), that 
will enable a common interpretation of the reliability of the age data. Any scale of 
data quality should take on board both the inherent uncertainty in all age interpreta-
tions, as well as the understanding that the individual sense of certainty is related to 
a given ageing protocol or reading rules that may well be changed should validated 
calcified structures become more widely available.  
The difficulty in interpreting growth zone patterns in CS varies from species to spe-
cies and from stock to stock. Growth zone features that can be seen relatively clearly 
in the calcified structures of one species-stock may be very difficult to observe in an-
other species-stock. WKNARC considers that a simple 3-level scale captures the im-
portant information.  
A major advantage of the 3-point scale is that it can be linked to the PGCCDBS defini-
tions of ageing performance. These are bad ageing performance, where there are seri-
ous concerns about the reliability of the age data and/or its value to stock assessment 
WGs; medium ageing performance, where the age data is sufficiently reliable to be 
used for stock assessment purposes but improvement is required and good ageing 
performance, where the age data is considered reliable (see section 4.4 of this report 
for detailed descriptions of ageing performance.) 
26  | ICES WKNARC REPORT 2011 
 
Using the same 3-point scale for all species-stocks would standardise the quality val-
ues so that data users could eventually rely on the quality value attached to the age 
data, without having to consider the precise nature of the quality assessments used to 
derive the quality value. The three scale points can be defined as easy to age with 
high precision, difficult to age with age with acceptable precision and unreadable or 
very difficult to age with acceptable precision. Terms like poor, moderate and good 
quality and/or values relating to the actual growth pattern elements can be used. E.g. 
clear scale winter rings or otolith translucent annuli that are easily identified, with no 
unexpected or difficult to resolve growth pattern elements present on the CS. Un-
readable CS are classified as difficult to age, as age data from both of these types of 
CS have the potential to have a detrimental effect on an assessment, if concerns about 
the reliability of the age data and/or its value to stock assessment WG, are not clearly 
identified. 
WKNARC recommends that Age Calibration Workshops (WKACs), derive descrip-
tors for the three scale points that are applicable to their species-stocks. These can 
include examples and detailed definitions for these indicators of age reading quality, 
including quality of the calcified structure and ease of interpretation of the structure.  
WKNARC recommends that the following 3-point scale of age reading quality be 
used by all age readers who provide age data for stock assessments. 
AQ1: Easy to age with high precision. 
If a scale of 1-100 is applied, where 100 is when the reader has the highest possible 
confidence in the age reading and 1 is when the reader has no confidence in the age 
reading, age quality 1 (AQ1), will apply to approximately the top 25 % of the possible 
quality ratings. AQ1 is an indication that the age data is considered reliable for stock 
assessment. 
AQ2: Difficult to age with age with acceptable precision. 
Age quality 2 (AQ2), will apply approximately to age readings within 25 and 75 per-
centiles of the possible quality ratings. AQ2 is an indication that the age data is suffi-
ciently reliable to be used for stock assessment purposes but improvement is requred. 
AQ3: Unreadable or very difficult to age with acceptable precision. 
Age quality 3 (AQ3), will apply to approximately the lowest 25 % of the possible 
quality ratings. 3 AQ3 is an indication that there are serious concerns about the reli-
ability of the age data and/or its value to stock assessment WGs. 
7.5 Reference 
Campana, S., 2001. Accuracy, precision and quality control in age determination, including a 
review of the use and abuse of age validation methods. Journal of Fish Biology, 59: 197–242. 
 


Collate information on the quality status of age reading at MS institutes (ToR g)

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