Fisheries science is empirical and improving the accuracy, precision, and quality of data is paramount. New technologies (e.g., optics and acoustics) may better equip researchers to examine ecosystems from the individual to the community level. However, these new technologies are capable of collecting a great deal of data. How will these data be used in ecosystem modeling? Do we attempt to measure everything and incorporate it into an “omniscient” model? Perhaps not everything that can be measured should be. Will automated data collection and processing kill scientific intuition? We suggest a naturalist's approach to fisheries assessment, which is built on the fundamentals of ecological methodology, and takes full advantage of new technologies to obtain absolute measures and to estimate their associated uncertainty.
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Stokesbury, K.D.E., Harris, B.P., Marino, M.C. (2009). Astonishment, Stupefaction, and a Naturalist's Approach to Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Studies. In: Beamish, R.J., Rothschild, B.J. (eds) The Future of Fisheries Science in North America. Fish & Fisheries Series, vol 31. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9210-7_7
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