Rationale, structure and current templates of the Ecosystem, Productivity, Ocean, Climate (EPOC) modelling framework
to support evaluation of strategies to subdivide the Area 48
krill catch limit amongst small-scale management units

Since 2002, the Working Group on Ecosystem Monitoring and Management has been undertaking a work program to develop a management procedure for krill fisheries. To date, this has primarily focussed on subdividing the region-wide krill catch limit in the southwest Atlantic into small-scale management units through a number of workshops. Computer simulations are being used by WG-EMM to evaluate the costs and benefits to achieving conservation and fishery objectives of the six different strategies for undertaking the subdivision. This paper further elaborates the Ecosystem Productivity, Ocean, Climate modelling framework. In particular, it outlines the general considerations for designing a simulation environment for evaluating the strategies for subdividing the krill catch limit and, on the basis of these considerations, provides an update of the conceptual structure of EPOC and outlines the templates developed for EPOC to facilitate this work.