Fish Bioenergetics 4.0: The Inauguration of a New Era

Bioenergetics models are widely used as a tool in fisheries management and research. Although Fish Bioenergetics 3.0 by Hanson et al. (1997) remains a popular software, the last version is over 18 years old, is incompatible with many new operating systems, and contained a total of 33 models. Since then, the number of published fish bioenergetics models has increased to 115 models. This presentation will introduce the newly developed Fish Bioenergetics 4.0, which opts for an R-based analytical approach that consists of a graphical user interface application (GUI; Shiny by RStudio) and an independent modeling package to be used in the R computing environment. While having the same capabilities as its predecessor, Fish Bioenergetics 4.0 will allow for timely updates and bug fixes, and rely on the feedback of users to continuously improve the application. In addition to having the ability to run simulations online or on a personal computer, users will also be able to compute environmentally-dependent functions (e.g., dissolved oxygen, salinity) that are not part of the default package. We hope that advancement in the new modeling platform will attract a broad range of users while facilitating continued use of bioenergetics modeling in ecological and management driven research.