Author(s)

K. Enberg & V. Kaitala

Abstract

The common focus of interest in fisheries management is the target species. However, most species belong to an ecological community, and the management of one species is very likely to affect also the other species in the community. In this study, we focus on community level responses to fisheries management. Loss of a single species from the community may be followed by extinction of other community members. It may also result in cascading extinctions. Such cascades not only occur following extinction events, but also as the result of significant reductions in population size. Thus, the number of species in a community can be reduced when one species is subject to harvesting. We used a Ricker-type population model with Lotka-Volterra competitive interactions to create viable competitive communities, and

Keywords