The European Fish Ageing Network (EFAN) funded by the European Union, is reviewed, and assessed after a 20-year hiatus. The large number of scientists and technicians involved in this independent and informal network, and the time invested (four years), provided a significant advance in fish age estimation and methodologies. The results presented are based on two survey questionnaires sent to EFAN members, specifically to those who had been most actively involved in the programme. Overall, EFAN can be considered as successful as it fulfilled the aim of the FAIR (Fostering Awareness Inclusion and Recognition) program in improving collaboration both at a national and European levels in the field of sclerochronology. Adding to the success was that many survey participants reported a positive impact on both their creativity and scientific careers, particularly participants from university environments and the female members, and around 50% of the participants continued in their age-related research careers. These factors, as well as the positive scientific impact EFAN has had in various European countries (n = 16), point to a very successful programme. The aim of improving what is an objective approach required to interpret growth increments in calcified structures (otoliths) in fishes, is reflected in the various tools developed by EFAN, all of which are found in the many reports produced by the Network. Examples are seen in the quality control approach by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), where tools developed by EFAN have been key to their fisheries management approach. Our general impression is that a project with a lifetime of around four years in principle provides a suitable time period to develop age estimation tools, quality control routines, and working procedures to improve the use of fish age data for fish stock assessments. We argue however, that developing a functioning network requires more time than a conventional project. Therefore, to fully meet the aims of projects such as EFAN, a period of between 10 and 15 years is a more appropriate time frame for these types of programmes to run. A longer time scale can help ensure recommendations are regularly followed, can provide more confidence in on-going routine age estimation data, and so achieve a significant improvement in the application of ageing methods. In turn a more accurate and robust scientific outcome would be available for European fish stock assessments.

由欧盟资助的欧洲鱼类老化网络 (EFAN) 在中断 20 年后进行审查和评估。参与这个独立和非正式网络的大量科学家和技术人员，以及投入的时间（四年），在鱼龄估计和方法方面取得了重大进展。所提供的结果基于发送给 EFAN 成员的两份调查问卷，特别是那些最积极参与该计划的人。总体而言，EFAN 可以被认为是成功的，因为它实现了 FAIR（促进意识包容和认可）计划的目标，改善了国家和欧洲在硬化年代学领域的合作。除了成功之外，许多调查参与者报告说对他们的创造力和科学事业都产生了积极影响，尤其是来自大学环境的参与者和女性成员，大约 50% 的参与者继续从事与年龄相关的研究职业。这些因素，以及 EFAN 在多个欧洲国家（n = 16）产生的积极科学影响，都表明该计划非常成功。改进解释鱼类钙化结构（耳石）生长增量所需的客观方法的目的反映在 EFAN 开发的各种工具中，所有这些工具都可以在网络生成的许多报告中找到。国际海洋勘探理事会 (ICES) 的质量控制方法就是一个例子，EFAN 开发的工具是其渔业管理方法的关键。我们的总体印象是，原则上生命周期约为四年的项目提供了一个合适的时间段来开发年龄估计工具、质量控制程序和工作程序，以改进鱼龄数据在鱼类种群评估中的使用。然而，我们认为，开发一个有效的网络需要比传统项目更多的时间。因此，要完全满足 EFAN 等项目的目标，10 到 15 年的时间是这类项目运行的更合适的时间框架。更长的时间范围有助于确保定期遵循建议，可以为正在进行的常规年龄估计数据提供更大的信心，从而显着改善老化方法的应用。