Recent application of Fourier transform near infra-red spectroscopy (FT-NIRS) to predict age in fish otoliths has gained attention among fisheries managers as a potential alternative to costly production ageing of managed species. We assessed the age prediction capability of FT-NIRS scans in whole otoliths from red snapper, Lutjanus campechanus, collected from the US Gulf of Mexico and US Atlantic Ocean (South Atlantic). Otoliths were scanned with an FT-NIR spectrometer and resulting spectral signatures were regressed with traditionally estimated ages via partial least squares regression to produce calibration models, which were validated for predictive capability against test sets of otoliths. Calibration models successfully predicted age with R² ranging 0.94–0.95, mean squared error ≤1.8 years, and bias <0.02 years. Percent agreement between FT-NIRS and traditional ages was lower than within-reader agreement for traditional estimates, but average percent error was similar and Kolmogorov–Smirnov tests were not significantly different (p ≥ 0.06) between traditional and FT-NIRS predicted ages for optimal calibration models. Ages >31 years were not well predicted, possibly due to light attenuation in the thickest otoliths. Our results suggest that FT-NIRS can improve efficiency in production ageing for fisheries management while maintaining data quality standards.

中文翻译：

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利用FT-NIR光谱估计红鲷鱼（Lutjanus campechanus）的年龄：在管理中应用于生产老化的可行性

傅立叶变换近红外光谱法（FT-NIRS）在预测鱼耳石年龄方面的最新应用已引起渔业管理者的关注，作为管理物种昂贵生产老化的潜在替代方法。我们评估了从美国鲷鱼墨西哥湾和美国大西洋（南大西洋）采集的红鲷鱼Lutjanus campechanus的整个耳石中FT-NIRS扫描的年龄预测能力。用FT-NIR光谱仪扫描耳石，然后通过偏最小二乘回归将得到的光谱特征与传统估计的年龄进行回归，以生成校准模型，并验证其对耳石测试集的预测能力。校准模型可通过R ²成功预测年龄范围为0.94-0.95，均方误差≤1.8年，偏差<0.02年。FT-NIRS和传统的岁之间的百分比协议是不是在阅读器的传统估计协议较低，但平均百分比误差相近，柯尔莫哥洛夫-斯米尔诺夫测试没有显著差异（p 传统和FT-NIRS之间≥0.06）预测的最佳年龄校准模型。年龄> 31岁的年龄没有得到很好的预测，这可能是由于最厚的耳石中的光衰减所致。我们的结果表明，FT-NIRS可以提高渔业管理的生产老化效率，同时保持数据质量标准。