While not needed for stock assessment, quantitative dietary
information is important for ecosystem models (e.g., Ecopath) to
allow simulation of fishing and climate change effects on the pelagic
ecosystem (Christensen and Pauly, 1992). Previous research has
simply provided a description of the prey species in the diet of
wahoo from various regions. However, while preliminary, Allain
(2003) started to investigate the digestion rates of prey by wahoo
in the Pacific Ocean. Future research should build on this work
by quantifying the consumption rates and daily ration of wahoo
to inform ecosystem models, which may be used to facilitate
ecosystem-based fisheries management.