The trophic-level based model: A theoretical approach of fishing effects on marine ecosystems

More generally, we show that the trophic-level based model, built from a small number of very simple and rather unquestionable assumptions, leads to a relevant representation of ecosystem impacts of fishing. It might be regarded as a theoretical basis contributing to our understanding of such impacts. We finally discuss on the use of the model in real cases and we address its usefulness to build a general theory on marine ecosystem functioning.