Ecotrophic perspective in fisheries management: A review of Ecopath with Ecosim models in European marine ecosystems

The aim of this work is to present the food web models developed using the

Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) software tool to describe structure and functioning

of various European marine ecosystems (eastern, central and western

Mediterranean Sea; Black Sea; Bay of Biscay, Celtic Sea and Iberian coast;

Baltic Sea; North Sea; English Channel, Irish Sea and west Scottish Sea; and

Norwegian and Barents Seas). A total of 195 Ecopath models based on 168

scientific publications, which report original, updated and modified versions,

were reviewed. Seventy models included Ecosim temporal simulations while 28

implemented Ecospace spatiotemporal dynamics. Most of the models and

publications referred to the western Mediterranean Sea followed by the English

Channel, Irish Sea and west Scottish Sea sub-regions. In the Mediterranean Sea,

the western region had the largest number of models and publications, followed

by the central and eastern regions; similar trends were observed in previous

literature reviews. Most models addressed ecosystem functioning and fisheriesrelated

hypotheses while several investigated the impact of climate change, the

presence of alien species, aquaculture, chemical pollution, infrastructure, and

energy production. Model complexity (i.e., number of functional groups)

increased over time. Main forcing factors considered to run spatial and

temporal simulations were trophic interactions, fishery, and primary

production. Average scores of ecosystem indicators derived from the Ecopath

summary statistics were compared. Uncertainty was also investigated based on

the use of the Ecosampler plug-in and the Monte Carlo routine; only one third of

the reviewed publications incorporated uncertainty analysis. Only a limited 

number of the models included the use of the ECOIND plug-in which provides

the user with quantitative output of ecological indicators. We assert that the EwE

modelling approach is a successful tool which provides a quantitative framework

to analyse the structure and dynamics of ecosystems, and to evaluate the

potential impacts of different management scenarios.