Accurate maturity schedules are critical to ensure that stock assessment models can track changes in spawning stock biomass. To generate updated maturity estimates, the Northwest Fisheries Science Center’s Fishery Resource Analysis and Monitoring Division instituted a reproductive biology program in 2009. This program uses histological analysis of ovaries to determine maturity, a technique that is more reliable than the traditional macroscopic method but is also time-consuming and expensive. As macroscopic maturity data are still being collected by multiple agencies on the US west coast, most prominently the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW), we evaluated the usefulness of these macroscopic maturity recordings by verifying their accuracy using histological methods. Two species in this study, arrowtooth flounder (Atheresthes stomias) and canary rockfish (Sebastes pinniger), representative of west coast flatfishes and rockfishes (Sebastes spp.), had high correspondence between length at 50% biological (physiological) maturity (L₅₀) evaluated histologically and macroscopically. Estimates of L₅₀ for sablefish (Anoplopoma fimbria), a representative west coast roundfish, varied significantly between macroscopic and histological methods. Functional maturity (potential spawners in a given year) determined via histology did not correlate with macroscopic maturity for any studied species. In its current form, macroscopic maturity collections are insufficient for assessments of species with significant reproductive complexities but have limited application in assessing changes in maturity schedules over time. However, a lack of standardization among different state departments of fish and wildlife severely hinders any attempt at using macroscopic maturity data to analyze spatial trends in maturity.

准确的成熟度时间表对于确保种群评估模型可以跟踪产卵种群生物量的变化至关重要。为了生成更新的成熟度估计值，西北渔业科学中心渔业资源分析和监测部门于 2009 年制定了一项生殖生物学计划。该计划使用卵巢的组织学分析来确定成熟度，这种技术比传统的宏观方法更可靠，但也耗时且昂贵。由于美国西海岸的多个机构仍在收集宏观成熟度数据，最突出的是俄勒冈州鱼类和野生动物部 (ODFW)，我们通过使用组织学方法验证其准确性来评估这些宏观成熟度记录的有用性。本研究中的两个物种，箭齿比目鱼 (Atheresthes stomias ) 和金丝雀石斑鱼( Sebastes pinniger ) 是西海岸比目鱼和石斑鱼 ( Sebastes spp. ) 的代表，在组织学和宏观上评估的50% 生物（生理）成熟度 (L ₅₀ ) 的长度之间具有高度对应关系。紫貂鱼 ( Anoplopoma fimbria)的 L ₅₀估计值)，一种具有代表性的西海岸圆鱼，在宏观和组织学方法之间存在显着差异。通过组织学确定的功能成熟度（给定年份的潜在产卵者）与任何研究物种的宏观成熟度无关。在目前的形式下，宏观成熟度收集不足以评估具有显着生殖复杂性的物种，但在评估成熟度时间表随时间的变化方面的应用有限。然而，不同州鱼类和野生动物部门之间缺乏标准化严重阻碍了使用宏观成熟度数据分析成熟度空间趋势的任何尝试。