{"id":5841,"date":"2014-12-23T13:37:51","date_gmt":"2014-12-23T18:37:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fish-news.com\/cfn\/?p=5841"},"modified":"2014-12-23T17:22:38","modified_gmt":"2014-12-23T22:22:38","slug":"landmark-lutcavage-led-study-shows-western-atlantic-bluefin-mature-earlier-than-assumed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fish-news.com\/cfn\/landmark-lutcavage-led-study-shows-western-atlantic-bluefin-mature-earlier-than-assumed\/","title":{"rendered":"Landmark Lutcavage-led study shows western Atlantic bluefin mature earlier than assumed"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"In

In 2011, when the LPRC moved into its home at the Marine Research Station in Gloucester, Director Molly Lutcavage said of the facility\u2019s huge walk-in freezer, \u201cGuts and gonads. \u00a0Stomach contents. That\u2019s what we\u2019ll store in here. \u00a0This makes it a real fish lab.\u201d Gonad analysis was at the heart of the new findings on western Atlantic bluefin spawning age by the Lutcavage team of researchers. (Lorelei Stevens photo)<\/p><\/div>\n

GLOUCESTER, MA \u2013 Years of work by Molly Lutcavage, director of the Large Pelagics Research Center (LPRC) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst Gloucester Marine Research Station, on western Atlantic bluefin spawning age \u2013 a key factor in determining stock status \u2013 has finally come to fruition.<\/p>\n

With her former doctorial student Gilad Heinisch of Israel\u2019s Oceanographic and Limnological Research Center, Lutcavage recently published a study in the online open-access scientific paper section of the journal \u201cNature\u201d that suggests these fish mature at a considerably younger age than currently assumed.<\/p>\n

The findings could lead to changes in how fisheries scientists estimate the size of the western Atlantic bluefin population.<\/p>\n

\u201cRealistic fish stock assessments require knowing at what age, where, when, and how often fish spawn,\u201d Lutcavage said.<\/p>\n

In their study, Lutcavage and Heinisch, along with former doctoral student Jessica Knapp of the University of New Hampshire, introduced a new endocrine-based approach to determine timing of sexual maturation for western bluefin.<\/p>\n

Currently, sexual maturity for bluefin tuna is determined by observing fish sizes on known spawning grounds during known spawning seasons.<\/p>\n

\"CFN_1_15_Cover\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Read the rest of this story and much, much more in the January issue of\u00a0Commercial Fisheries News<\/em>. \u00a0Buy this issue or\u00a0Subscribe<\/a>. \u00a0\u00a0[add_to_cart=5805]<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Read online immediately with access key and download for future reference.)<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GLOUCESTER, MA \u2013 Years of work by Molly Lutcavage, director of the Large Pelagics Research Center (LPRC) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst Gloucester Marine Research Station, on western Atlantic bluefin spawning age \u2013 a key factor in determining stock status \u2013 has finally come to fruition. With her former doctorial student Gilad Heinisch of … <\/p>\n

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