ON THE OPTIMAL POLICY FOR COMBINING HARVESTING OF PREDATOR AND PREY

An optimal policy is sought for maximizing present value from the combined harvest of two ecologically dependent species, which would coexist as predator and prey in the absence of harvesting. Harvest rate for each species is assumed proportional to both stock level and effort. For a large class of biological productivity functions, it is established that the optimal equilibrium point in the phase‐plane of stock levels must be a saddle‐point. For quadratic productivity functions, a combination of analytical reasoning and numerical experiment is used to show that first and second order necessary conditions for optimality are satisfied by a unique approach to equilibrium, which must therefore be optimal. The corresponding control law is given, and an apparent suggestion of two previous authors concerning the policy is shown to be inappropriate. The optimal policy enables an estimate to be made of the true loss of resource value due to a catastrophic fall in stock level.

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