The present book summarizes parts of the research made in the Norwegian
Multispecies program. This program was initiated by the then Norwegian
Council of Fisheries Research, which was later integrated in The
Research Council of Norway. Modelling has been a key element in the
program. In the first place, modelling, be it singlespecies or
multispecies modelling, is an efficient way of summing up existing
knowledge, and performing analyses of different types on the basis of
it. Further- more, models may serve as a meeting ground between fishery
researchers from differ- ent academic fields. This has been an important
aspect of the Multispecies program, bringing together oceanographers,
biologists, economists, mathematicians and stat- isticians in fruitful
cooperation. That this has proved possible may be taken as an important
result of the program. The multispecies aspect has perhaps underscored
the need for inter-disciplinary cooperation. The different authors are,
of course, responsible for their respective contributions. Technical
assistance in preparing the manuscript has been given by Knut Arrestad
and Ian Knutsen, both at the University of Bergen. Bergen, October 1997.