Parameter Estimation on Marine Biological Models

NOAA: Alaska Fisheries Mathematics, 2015-16

Liaison(s): Dr. Kerim Aydin ’92
Advisor(s): Alfonso Castro
Students(s): Nathan Geldner, Tasman Loustalet, Rowan Zellers

Understanding how fish populations change over time helps the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to prevent overfishing and protect fisheries. The Ecosim model describes the change in biomass per species over time for an entire marine ecosystem. The model itself leaves many parameters unspecified which must be inferred from the data. Our goal has been to algorithmically determine sets of parameters which allow the Ecosim model to best predict our data.