Building ecological-economic models and scenarios of marine resource systems: Workshop report

As part of the ecosystem approach to managing fisheries and other uses of marine ecosystems, there has been a growing call for the development of integrated assessment tools to support the provision of both tactical and strategic management advice. Of particular importance in this domain is the development of models that capture the dynamic interactions between social and economic systems, and marine ecosystems. In February 2013, a workshop jointly organised by the ICES working group on Integrative, Physical biological and Ecosystem Modelling and researchers attending the Mathematics of Bio-economics initiative, a contribution to the international event Mathematics of Planet Earth 2013, brought together experts to discuss recent advances and key methodological challenges posed by this field of research. The manuscript provides a brief report of the key points discussed during the workshop, including identification of the research which may help progress both the development of these modelling approaches and their application to actual management decision problems.