DIRECTOR’S FOREWORD 

Many researchers at the Fisheries Centre, from faculty to graduate students, are involved in ecosystem modelling, and not surprisingly this has resulted in the FC becoming well-known for expertise in this challenging field. 

This is obviously what motivated Prof. Gascuel to spend a sabbatical year at the Fisheries Centre, and this report, co-authored by one of our graduate students and one of our faculty, is the product of his visit. 

The ecosystem model and software presented in this report, called EcoTroph, represent both a stand-alone application and a module of the Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) software, the flagship product of the FC. EcoTroph is thus not an alternative to Ecopath, but a useful complement, an alternative way of looking at ecosystems, and I hope to see more applications of this type – even from my own discipline, ecological/fisheries economics. This will enable us to get a full view of aquatic ecosystems and the services they provide. 

Finally, I wish to congratulate the institution that sponsored the study visits of Prof. Gascuel to Vancouver, in Canada, and of Ms. Tremblay-Boyer to Rennes, in France, for having enabled the exchanges, which led to this report. It is initiatives of this sort which are the lifeblood of successful research as documented in this report. 

Rashid Sumaila, FC Director