ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates the utility of considering fisheries stock assessment and management from a structured systems viewpoint. It presents an in-depth description of the components and linkages of the general fisheries management system. The chapter introduces the design of a prototype computer system based on the systems science approach. The main features of the systems science approach demonstrated the strength, necessity and utility of an expert decision support system (DSS) for fishery management. The user interface is an advanced artificial intelligence entity that serves to modulate the workings and the interfacings of the DSS and metasystem. The structured fisheries management system can be divided into three complexes which follow along the lines of the three fundamental phases of activity: system description; system analysis; and system optimization-implementation. The expert decision support system, CANOnical FISHery is composed of three main sectors: the decision support system, the metasystem, and the front-end processor or user interface.
