A conceptual model of fish functional relationships in marine ecosystems and its application for fisheries stock assessment

This paper presents a conceptual model of the functional relationships of fish in their environment and describes how various factors and processes affect temporal and spatial dynamics of fish populations in marine ecosystems. The main objective of this model is to illustrate how spatial dynamics of fish, which occur on the organismal level, can be brought into a stock assessment framework, traditionally based on the population perspective. The conceptual model provides a holistic view on ecosystem relationships that determine abundance and spatial distribution of fish in marine ecosystems. It also designates several directions for further research efforts aiming to make quantitative predictions of fish distribution and to apply this knowledge for interpretation of survey data and estimation of population abundance.