openMSE is an umbrella R package for building operating models, analyzing fishery data, and conducting Management Strategy Evaluation (MSE) for a wide range of fisheries.

openMSE uses an age-structured spatial population dynamics model to simulate fishery dynamics. Full details of the population dynamics model are available in a paper published in Methods in Ecology and Evolution.

The openMSE package is available on CRAN can be installed with install.packages("openMSE"). Installing the openMSE package and loading with library("openMSE") will load the following core packages:

1. MSEtool - the Management Strategy Evaluation toolkit is the core package in the openMSE collection. It contains the core functions for constructing operating models, simulating fishery dynamics, and evaluating the effectiveness of alternative management strategies using closed-loop simulation testing.

2. DLMtool - the Data-Limited Methods toolkit is a collection of data-limited management procedures that can be evaluated using MSE. DLMtool requires the MSEtool package as a dependency, and all MSEtool functions will be available when DLMtool is loaded into an R session.

3. SAMtool - the Stock Assessment Methods toolkit is a collection of assessment methods and management procedures that have been developed for more data-intensive applications. This package includes the Rapid Conditioning Model for conditioning operating models in data-moderate and data-rich fisheries. SAMtool requires the MSEtool package as a dependency, and all MSEtool functions will be available when SAMtool is loaded into an R session.

You can learn more about the specifics of the openMSE packages here.

This site contains help documentation for the key features of the openMSE packages, and tutorials for the key concepts for fisheries simulation modeling and management strategy evaluation.
For first time users of openMSE, we recommend reading through the following sub-sections, and then taking the Quick Tour of openMSE.