This stage should determine what is known and unknown about the forces that influence the dynamics of the fishery system. The focal issue is used to organise an assessment of the actors, institutions and ecosystems that define the fishery and identify the key linkages between them. It is also important to identify engines of external change, whether they be social, economic or environmental, that drive system dynamics. Here, this assessment was based on an understanding of the system generated during the course of the research; from review of the academic and technical literature, interviews with skippers and other fishery experts, and primary research