Developing operational spatial models for Scottish fisheries

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This project will develop a spatial combined stock and fishing fleet model to simulate both the west coast Nephrops fishery, and the potential effects of MPAs and HMPAs in demersal fisheries. The base model, called 'Honeycomb' was originally developed at Marine Scotland Science (MSS), and they are CASE partners in the project. The model will enable an evaluation of the impacts of potential future changes in access to fishing grounds, in terms of stock sustainability and economic viability of the target fleets. When parameterised using available data the model outputs will contribute to the evidence base for the Scottish Government's commitments to sustainable fisheries. This will be achieved through three specific objectives: 1) computational and structural improvements to Honeycomb model; 2) an implementation a two-fleet version of the model to represent the Scottish west coast Nephrops fishery; 3) an implementation of single demersal fleet model to examine impacts of MPAs and HPMAs. No sites have yet been adopted for HPMAs, so the choice of stocks and locations for the second implementation will be developed in consultation with MSS.