In January, FWS biologist Dale Hanson of the Green Bay Fishery Resources Office held two otolith aging workshops to advance efforts aimed at improving fisheries age data among Lake Michigan management agencies. 

Otoliths, also known as fish ear bones, are the primary structure used for fish aging in many stock assessment programs. 

These workshops, held in Charlevoix, Michigan and Green Bay, Wisconsin, brought 20 fish agers from three states and three tribal agencies together to age a "known age collection" of lake trout otoliths. 

The workshop results will be used to determine the potential benefits, including increase in age accuracy, if agencies begin using otoliths to age fish instead of fish scales.