smartR: An r package for spatial modelling of fisheries and scenario simulation of management strategies

Overfishing or exploitation patterns with high juvenile mortalities often negatively impact demersal fish stocks. Meanwhile, the increased availability and diffusion of georeferenced information is propelling a revolution of marine spatial planning. A spatial-explicit approach to the management of fishing effort should protect the Essential Fish Habitats and minimize the impact of trawlers on areas where juveniles of commercial species concentrate. The smartR package is a data-driven model that implements the Spatially explicit bio-economic Model for Assessing and managing demeRsal Trawl fisheries to edit and format the raw data; construct and maintain coherent datasets; to numerically and visually inspect the generated metadata; to simulate management scenarios and forecast the possible effects in terms of resources status and economic performances of the fleets. Explicit inclusion of the spatial dimension is essential to improve the understanding of the fishery system, and to enhance the ability of management plans to improve stocks statuses.