ICES Journal of Marine Science: Journal du Conseil Advance Access originally published online on July 8, 2009
ICES Journal of Marine Science: Journal du Conseil 2009 66(10):2165-2175; doi:10.1093/icesjms/fsp188
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© United States Government, Department of Commerce 2009
Estimating von Bertalanffy growth parameters from growth increment data using a linear mixed-effects model, with an application to the sea scallop Placopecten magellanicus
Northeast Fisheries Science Center, 166 Water St., Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA
Correspondence to D. R. Hart: tel: +1 508 495 2369; fax: +1 508 495 2393; e-mail: deborah.hart{at}noaa.gov
Hart, D. R., and Chute, A. S. 2009. Estimating von Bertalanffy growth parameters from growth increment data using a linear mixed-effects model, with an application to the sea scallop Placopecten magellanicus. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 66: 2165–2175.We introduce a novel linear mixed-effects method for estimating von Bertalanffy growth parameters from growth increment data that lack explicit age information. The method is simple to implement and can incorporate and estimate variability in both the asymptotic size L
and the Brody growth coefficient K. Simulations indicate that estimates from the method are accurate over a range of conditions. The method is applied to growth data from more than 6000 Atlantic sea scallop (Placopecten magellanicus) shells from the Mid-Atlantic Bight and Georges Bank. Sea scallops grow to a larger asymptotic shell height on Georges Bank than on the Mid-Atlantic Bight and in areas closed to fishing on Georges Bank than on the fished portions. Depth and latitude had significant effects on scallop growth in both the Mid-Atlantic and Georges Bank, with smaller asymptotic shell heights in deeper water and at higher latitudes.
Keywords: marine protected areas, mixed-effects model, Placopecten magellanicus, scallop, von Bertalanffy growth
Received 13 November 2008; accepted 4 June 2009; advance access publication 8 July 2009.