Bioeconomic modelling of a three-species fishery with switching effect

This paper aims to study the problem of combined harvesting of a system involving one predator and two prey species fishery in which the predator feeds more intensively on the more abundant species. Mathematical formulation of the optimal harvest policy is given and its solution is derived in the equiblibrium case by using Pontryagin's Maximum principle. Dynamic optimization of the harvest policy is also discussed by takingE(t), the combined harvest effort, as a dynamic variable. Biological and bioeconomic interpretations of the results associated with the optimal equilibirum solution are explained. The significance of the constraints required for the existence of an optimal singular control are also given.