In the Gulf, the stock status determination process carried out through regular stock assessments depends heavily on age data that are used to track, understand and predict variability in important processes (i.e., growth, recruitment, mortality) that determine stock productivity and resilience. However, producing age composition data via ageing hard parts (e.g., otoliths, spines, vertebrae) on average takes nearly 2.5 years after samples are collected, which greatly hampers the timeliness of assessments. Furthermore, the age composition of regulatory discards is unknown under the current system, and age estimates of the landed catch for given species can suffer from bias or imprecision. Epigenetic ageing offers an approach to produce accurate and precise age estimates more efficiently, and in a nonlethal manner. Our study aims to operationalize the collection of minimally invasive tissue samples (e.g., fin clips, muscle biopsies) across the Gulf, with higher sample sizes and greater resolution than is currently possible through the collection of hard parts, to improve the efficiency and accuracy of the assessment process via epigenetic ageing. To that end, we are developing a collaborative framework among federal, regional, and state collaborators, including industry stakeholders, to collect and archive fin clip tissue samples. Once age composition estimates are produced, statistical analyses will be conducted to demonstrate the improvement of assessments that use time series of epigenetic-derived age data instead of hard part-derived for three species (red snapper, gray triggerfish and gag grouper), while providing time series of biological data that can be input directly into assessments. The genomics and analytical tools, as well as the framework for data collection, developed in this study will be transformative for the assessment process, enhancing the timeliness and certainty in catch advice coming from next-generation assessments, which in turn will lead to more efficient and sustainable Gulf fisheries.