Report

Harvesting a natural population is not population control, but basically to yield of a considerable

harvest from the population. In this case, we have to come up with a harvest strategy that will

give the maximum long-term yield, with the maximum allowable harvest that will retain the

population, and give stable equilibrium sizes of the population under harvesting. This is why we

opt for the two methods, constant harvesting and proportional harvesting.

From the equation,

𝑃
𝑃′ = 0.18𝑃(1 − )−ℎ
50000

The first term on the RHS is the logistic model, the second term is the depletion due

to fishing which is assumed to occur at a constant absolute rate given by h. This usually occur in

industries that impose a fixed quota. The right-hand-side is a quadratic function of P but the

parabola has now been shifted downwards by a distance h.

 Fig 1 Constant harvesting model

From Fig.1, if the distance h is not too large, two equilibria result, but they are now closer

together. These are given by the two solutions of the quadratic equation

𝑃
0.18𝑃 (1 − ) − ℎ = 0 … … … … . . (𝑎)
50000

The smaller equilibrium is unstable, the larger equilibrium is stable. However, if the harvesting

rate h is too large then the parabola will be shifted below the axis and there will be no
equilibrium. The peak of the original parabola occurs at P = 0.5K and the growth rate at this

point is 0.25rK. Thus, this is also the largest distance that the parabola can be shifted downwards

and still cross the axis.

1
ℎ𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 𝑟𝐾
4
1
ℎ𝑚𝑎𝑥 = × 0.18 × 50000 = 2250
4

Fig 2 a graph of dP/dt against P

From Fig 2. ℎ𝑚𝑎𝑥 is clearly 2250.

For mathematical computation for optimal h,

 𝑃
𝑃′ = 0.18𝑃(1 − )−ℎ
50000

By analyzing the quadratic equations. A quadratic equation has solutions if the discriminant is

not negative. Equation a has discriminant condition that gives.

4𝑟
𝑟2 − ℎ≥0
𝐾

𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑠 𝑡𝑜

1
ℎ ≤ ℎ𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 𝑟𝐾
4
1
ℎ ≤ ℎ𝑚𝑎𝑥 = × 0.18 × 50000 = 2250
4
For proportional harvesting, fish are caught with a constant effort E and that the amount of fish

caught is given by multiplying the effort by the fish population to give EP.

The differential equation for this model has the form

𝑑𝑃 𝑃
= 𝑟 𝑃 (1 − ) − 𝐸𝑃
𝑑𝑡 𝐾
The RHS is a quadratic function of P and can be factorized. There is an unstable equilibrium at

P=0 and a stable equilibrium given by

𝑃
𝑟 (1 − ) − 𝐸 = 0
𝐾

𝑜𝑟

𝐸
𝑃 = (1 − ) 𝐾
𝑟

Assuming the population to be at this stable equilibrium, then the amount of fish caught is

given by

𝐸
𝐸𝑃 = 𝐸 (1 − ) 𝐾
𝑟

The maximum of the RHS of this equation occurs when 𝐸 = 0.5𝑟. This is the optimal effort is

exactly half the intrinsic growth rate of the fish.

𝐸 = 0.5𝑟 = 0.5 × 0.18 = 0.09

For this amount of effort the equilibrium population is 𝑃𝑒𝑞 = 𝐾 and the total amount of fish

1
caught is 𝐸𝑃𝑒𝑞 = 4 𝑟𝐾.

1
Since 𝐸𝑃𝑒𝑞 = 𝑟𝐾, it means that if the equilibrium populations of fish are equal, the amount of
4

fish caught is the same. However, in the constant harvest model, if the fishermen either

deliberately or accidentally exceed the ℎ𝑚𝑎𝑥 then there is no stable equilibrium and the fish will

quickly become extinct. In the proportional harvesting, if the fishermen accidentally or

deliberately harvest too much, the stable equilibrium will still exist, but it will be at a smaller
population. Thus, by using more effort they are actually harvesting fewer fish, this sets up a

natural negative feedback in the system that removes the incentive for fishermen to exceed the

optimal effort.