Length-based methods have lately found widespread use for the estimation of growth in fish populations, especially in tropical areas, because of the various disadvantages presented by "ageing" techniques such as otolith or scale examinations or tagging experiments. recent methods for the assessment of growth in fishes on the basis of length data. Three methods were investigated: D. Pauly and N.David's Electronic Length-Frequency Analysis (ELEFAN), J.G. Shepherd's Length Composition Analysis (SLCA) and the method derived by J.J.Wetherall from the general model of D.G. Powell referred to as the "P-W method".