“Using ecosystem modelling to complement present approaches to fisheries management is one of the best ways to enable DFO to take an ecosystem approach, something our Council has been advocating for several years,” says Paul Leblond, Chair of the Pacific Fisheries Resource Conservation Council (www.fish.bc.ca). “Ecosystem modelling has become very sophisticated and is an appropriate tool to allow DFO to take the leap from ecosystem research into a practical ecosystem approach to fisheries management so as to better benefit salmon and other highly valued marine species.”
Ecosystem modelling refers to a computer application that examines aquatic ecosystems with the ability to simulate, through time, biological changes in managed species, as influenced by factors like environment, predation, competition or fisheries. These models capture ecosystem and species changes over time, offering the promise of a guide to potential future changes.
The report examines the development and use of ecosystem modelling, and finds that ecosystem models could help explore likely consequences of different fisheries management policies. With an example model of the Strait of Georgia, the report illustrates some of the ways modelling can help the visualisation and understanding of ecosystem processes and relationships between managed species and the fisheries that depend on them. The report also notes that modelling is in use in many jurisdictions to help set research priorities and form management strategy, including the United States’ National Marine Fisheries Service and Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation.
A full copy of Computer Modelling Of Marine Ecosystems: Applications To Pacific Salmon Management And Research“ by Dr. Dave B. Preikshot can be downloaded at www.fish.bc.ca. A brief Public Summary of the report is also available for downloading at www.fish.bc.ca.
The Pacific Fisheries Resource Conservation Council (www.fish.bc.ca) was created in 1998 and is an independent advisory body whose mandate is to alert and inform the federal and provincial governments and the public on issues that threaten Pacific salmon and their habitat.
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