The present working document contains the initial papers of a series whose ultimate purpose is to provide a realistic basis for a fresh appraisal of both the surplus production and the dynamic pool approaches to fishery yield analysis. The main idea is to tighten the conceptual framework of the "trinity" of recruitment, survival and growth, uncovering links among the three sectors by using recently developed physiologically structured models' methodology. There are good reasons to argue that this endeavor is appropriate and suitable for understanding tropical fisheries.