Uncategorized – Company for Open Ocean Observations and Logging

What could epigenetic ageing change in practice for fisheries management?

Age estimation is one of the most persistent bottlenecks in fisheries science. Traditionally, it relies on lethal sampling and expert interpretation of hard structures (otoliths, spines), which can be time-consuming, costly, and difficult to scale.

A new publication from COOOL demonstrates that fish age can now be estimated from a simple fin clip using epigenetic markers with a median error of less than one year.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11357-026-02192-0

Led by PhD student Thomas Chevrier, this work highlights how genomics and epigenetics can move beyond theory and deliver operational tools for fisheries science.

With epigenetic ageing, we are starting to see a shift toward:
• Non-lethal sampling > fin clips instead of sacrificing individuals
• Simplified sampling > no need for whole fish or heads to collect otoliths; fin clips can be collected directly at landing sites or onboard
• Scalability > large sample sizes become feasible
• Standardization > reduced reader bias compared to traditional ageing
• Access for data-limited fisheries > potential to unlock age-based assessments where none were previously possible

This opens concrete perspectives for:
• Improving stock assessment inputs (growth, mortality, recruitment)
• Supporting monitoring programs with minimal impact on populations
• Bridging gaps in data-limited contexts, especially in small-scale fisheries
• Developing new tools for aquaculture performance tracking

If you’re working on stock assessment, monitoring programs, or aquaculture systems, please get in touch to see how we can help you integrate epigenetics into your workflow.

www.company-coool.io

hashtag#Epigenetics hashtag#FisheriesScience hashtag#StockAssessment hashtag#Aquaculture hashtag#MarineScience hashtag#Innovation hashtag#DataLimitedFisheries hashtag#BlueEconomy hashtag#SmallScaleFisheries

Estimating Fish Population Size from DNA

But how many fish are there, really?

At COOOL, we are exploring innovative ways to answer one of the most fundamental questions in fisheries science: estimating population size – especially when traditional methods fall short.

One promising approach is Close-Kin Mark-Recapture (CKMR).

Imagine that every time a fish is caught, a small DNA sample is collected. As samples accumulate, we begin to detect family relationships: parent–offspring pairs, siblings, even grandparent–grandchild links. It’s a bit like a village – the smaller the village is, the more likely you are to encounter members of the same family, the bigger it is, the less likely you’ll meet people who are related to one another.

By analyzing how frequently these relationships occur, we can infer population size:

many related individuals > likely a smaller population

few related individuals > likely a larger population

In our recent work on Indian Ocean swordfish, we demonstrated how CKMR can move from theory to practical application, providing a roadmap for implementing this approach in real fisheries.

At COOOL, we are now working to turn these advances into operational tools for fisheries management, supporting institutions from sampling design to abundance estimation.

We can support institutes, fisheries departments, and ministries with:

• feasibility studies

• sampling strategy design

• genomic workflows

• kinship analysis

• abundance estimates on a case-by-case basis

If your institution is interested in exploring genetic approaches to estimate stock abundance, feel free to reach out.

Check out one of our newest publications to learn more: https://www.mdpi.com/2410-3888/11/3/149

#CKMR #FisheriesScience #Genomics #StockAssessment #FisheriesManagement #SustainableFisheries