A simulation model for capelin migrations in the North Atlantic

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. Simulations of the spawning migrations of this stock are presented. We also discuss how the continuous migration model can be reduced to a simpler model based on transition or migration matrices.