Fitting a model of flexible multifleet-multispecies fisheries to Senegalese artisanal fishery data

Fisheries exploitation systems are characterized by reciprocal interactions between fisheries activity and the harvested resource. Variability and cha nges affecting 'natural' and 'socio-economic' environments generate non sta tionarity of the variables used to describe the fishing activity, the resou rce and the yields. This characteristic needs to be taken into account in d escribing the evolution of the relationships between those variables, and i n describing fisheries adaptability and sustainability. We present a dynami cal system model with an application to data from surveys on activity and r esults of the Senegalese artisanal fishery from 1974 to 1992. A fitting pro cedure is proposed, giving estimates of the parameters of the model. A simu lation is then made with the fitted model in order to apraise possible impa cts of various events of different kind. (C) 2001 Ifremer/CNRS/Inra/IRD/Cem agref/Edition scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.