Regulation of a single-species fishery by taxation

Bioeconomic exploitation of a single-species fishery is discussed by using a reasonable catch-rate function instead of the usual ‘catch-per-unit-effort hypothesis’. It is assumed that an external agency regulates the fishery by imposing a suitable tax per unit biomass of landed fish. The fishing effort is taken as a dynamic variable depending on the capital invested in the fishery. The steady state is determined and its stability is discussed. The optimal harvesting policy is studied from the view point of control theory. S-system analysis is then applied to the model and some numerical computations are carried out.