Impact of maximum sustainable yield on independent populations

Tarzan Legović and Sunčana Geček

Ecological Modelling, 2010, vol. 221, issue 17, 2108-2111

Abstract: We investigate a community of independent logistically growing populations under a common harvesting effort which leads to the total maximum sustainable yield (TMSY). It is surprising that in the case of two populations with approximately equal carrying capacities, TMSY is reached while both populations persist, although their biotic potential may differ substantially. In general, however, TMSY with a common harvesting effort implies suboptimal fishing of some populations, overfishing of others and extinction of the rest of the populations. Since extinction of populations is a rule rather than an exception and since a community of independent populations is more robust than an ecosystem with multiple trophic levels, we call for urgent retraction of all legal documents advocating MSY in ecosystems.

Keywords: Maximum sustainable yield; Ecosystem; Harvesting effort; Logistic populations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecomod:v:221:y:2010:i:17:p:2108-2111

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2010.05.015

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