Wong, Darren, Smart, Jonathan J., Barrow, Joshua, Cleeland, Jaimie, Yates, Peter, Ziegler, Philippe, and Rizzari, Justin R. (2022) Age, growth and maturity of Southern Ocean skates (Bathyraja spp.) from the Kerguelen Plateau. Polar Biology, 45. pp. 1119-1130.

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Abstract

Three species of Southern Ocean skates, Bathyraja eatonii, Bathyraja irrasa and Bathyraja murrayi, are commonly caught as incidental by-catch in fisheries around Heard Island and McDonald Islands of the Kerguelen Plateau. We used length-at-age data to present the species’ life history information (age, growth and maturity for the first-time). Length- and age-at-maturity analyses revealed that B. irrasa matured at > 6 years old and > 1000 mm total length (TL), which was older and larger than B. murrayi (> 5 years old and > 400 mm TL) but similar to B. eatonii (> 5 years old and > 900 mm). We fitted growth models using a multi-model Bayesian framework. Our findings support the assumption that B. irrasa is slow growing and late maturing compared to B. eatonii and B. murrayi, consequently putting it at greater risk to fishery-induced increases in mortality compared to other species (e.g., B. murrayi). This is the first-time age and growth has been estimated for these species, however sample sizes for B. murrayi and B. eatonii were small and hence growth models should be interpreted with caution. Our results represent vital information for population projection models and can therefore assist in the development and/or revision of current by-catch limits to inform ongoing management strategies and conservation efforts.

Item ID:	86069
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1432-2056
Copyright Information:	This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Date Deposited:	09 Jul 2025 00:21
FoR Codes:	31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3199 Other biological sciences > 319999 Other biological sciences not elsewhere classified @ 100%
SEO Codes:	18 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT > 1802 Coastal and estuarine systems and management > 180299 Coastal and estuarine systems and management not elsewhere classified @ 100%
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