"The goal of the bioprof iles task at the Southeast Fisheries Center's Miami Laboratory is to conduct research that will lead to stock assessment of oceanic pelagic fishes. One of the most important objectives within this framework is to determine and validate age and growth of selected target species by examining growth bands on skeletal hardparts and by recovery of tagged fish. In this manual we identify target species, specify priorities, describe the types of samples and procedures for data collection, and provide information for preserving the samples and shipping them to the Miami Laboratory"--Introduction.

National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)