artiFISHal is a package of functions for the [R programming language](http://www.r-project.org/).  artiFISHal is a pelagic fish community simulator, which can be used to create artificial lakes and populate them with known numbers of fish (identified in species-size groups) to mimic pelagic fish communities. artiFISHal can then be used to sample these fish with virtual acoustic and midwater trawl surveys.