This book will illuminate the deep and often underappreciated connections between basic ecology and fishery science, and will explore the implications of these linkages in crafting management strategies for the 21st century.

This publication comprises the proceedings of an international workshop convened in St. John's, Nfld, Nov. 26-29, 1979. The purpose of the workshop was to discuss the results of recent multispecies research, its applications to management, and to consider future directions for research in this field. A total of 26 papers were presented, including a combination of experience papers, state-of-the-art review, and new scientific findings. Sequential sessions were held on fisheries systems research by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, multispecies considerations in fisheries research and management advice in the ICES area, species interactions in the Northeast Pacific and Northwest Atlantic, fisheries interactions, and applications to fisheries management. The workshop concluded with a substantial discussion of implications of present knowledge for advice to fisheries managers and implications for research program planning. The Workshop Report comprises the Chairman's opening remarks, a report on main elements of discussion in the sessions, and a summarization of workshop conclusions.

This report reviews the methods available for examining ecosystem dynamics and assessing the impact of interactions between ecosystems and human activities, particularly fisheries, and their implications for marine fisheries management. It focuses on the currently available models representative of general types such as bionergetic models, predator-prey models and minimally realistic models; with short descriptions given of model parameters, assumptions and data requirements. It discusses the advantages, disadvantages and limitations of each of the approaches; and concludes with some recommendations for the future development of multi-species and ecosystem models.