The next step is to translate alternative futures into descriptive storylines, based on the understanding of the various actors and drivers in the system accumulated during the assessment stage. Storylines should expand and challenge current thinking about the system, although they should be limited to three or four; a set of two storylines is usually too narrow, whereas more than four may complicate or confuse the scenario planning exercise [43] and [45]. In order to be plausible, storylines should link present events seamlessly with hypothetical future events, and the assumptions made and differences between the storylines must be easily visible. Consequently, storylines generally begin factual and become increasingly speculative at they progress. The storylines were constructed in three parts; first the changes in the fishery systems were set out, then what these changes mean in terms of fishing opportunities were outlined, and finally the storylines described the consequences for the behaviour of the fleet.