Since the ideas of cellular automata modelling were developed in the 1940s this modelling approach now covers all areas of natural and social sciences. A simple search on Google scholar reaches a number of 13000 hits ("resource biology" gets 1150 hits and "fisheries biology" 8329 hits). The modelling principles are very simple while the complexity of the outputs may be surprisingly high. This links to some basic questions within the theory of science, which also will be touched upon in this introductory lecture. More information is found here:

This draft paper presents a rather simple bioeconomic model addressing the use of Marine Protected Area (MPA) as a management tool in fisheries. The model includes a spatial (1D) distribution of fish stock biomasses, economic behavioural rules of fishing and the use of MPA.

My plan is to develop further the biological model of the previous presentation into a 2D model including basic species in the Barents Sea ecosystem. In this lecture I will present the sketch of the new model and discuss how migration and biomass growth may be modelled. This modelled is being developed as a part of the ATP programme, possibly also for the use in other EU programmes. On issue of particular interest is therefore how climate changes issues could be discussed with the framework of these types of models.