The Fisheries-Why Systems Engineering?

The marine fishing industry must surely be one of Man's most complex endeavors It involves hunting a prey which is usuaully invisible, often migratory, and occupies three dimensions, carried out in small vessels working at the meteorologically disturbed interface between air and ocean. The catch is processed in innumerable ways to suit tastes which vary widely from place to place in accordance with local tradition, religion, the time of year, and economics. Systems Engineering offers a technique for bringing some order out of this chaos and providing a rational and repeatable method of arriving at sounder conclusions. This paper discusses some of the ways in which Systems Engineering has been and can be applied to fisheries problems large and small. Examples are given, illustrated with block diagrams. Scenarios are presented for how fishery models can be constructively used by industry, government, researchers, and the public. It is suggested that now is the time to begin building aglobal fishery model.