Historically, many of our nation’s major fisheries have faced a monumental decline. In part, this decline
is attributable to inadequate assessment of stocks and the ecosystems that support them. Maintaining sustainable
fisheries requires maintaining the ecosystems on which critical stocks depend. Recognizing the need for
ecosystem-based approaches to fisheries management (and research to support this new approach) at the beginning
of the millennium, the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office (NCBO) initiated funding for several projects related to
ecosystem-based and multispecies management in support of the Fisheries Ecosystem Plan (FEP) 
for the Chesapeake Bay.
NCBO’s primary tactic in support of implementing the FEP was to begin the development of a Fisheries Ecosystem
Model of the Chesapeake Bay. NCBO contracted a team of fisheries scientists from the University of British
Columbia Fisheries Research Centre (UBC), as well as hiring an experienced modeler onsite to serve as the
FEM manager. The model is based on Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) model 
, a trophic mass-balance model that has been
used in a vast array of ecosystems worldwide. This document represents the culmination of 3 years of work by the
UBC team as well as numerous local researchers to utilize the best available data to create a working model of
the Chesapeake Bay fisheries ecosystem. The model is intended to be a “living model” that is dependent upon a
collaborative effort and involves all interested parties in its evaluation, application, refinement and future
development.
To obtain more information on the model, visit the links below.