A simulation model for capelin migrations in the North-Atlantic

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Some pelagic fish species undertake extensive feeding and spawning migrations covering distances of several hundred miles. We present a model of such migrations where the dynamics are governed by an advection-diffusion type equation with the advection being determined by environmental fields for temperature, food density and oceanic currents, in addition to a force field generated by an attracting spawning region. The model is motivated by the migrations of the capelin stock in the Central North- Atlantic. A simulation of the spawning migration of this stock is presented. We also discuss how the continuous migration model can be reduced to a simpler model based on transition or migration matrices.