Sustainable Harvest

by Stephanie Martis

Submitted : Spring 2009

The motivation behind this project derives from the problematic issues concerning the risk of over harvesting marine life. In order to prevent the extinction of these animals, it is necessary to determine the Maximum Sustainable Harvest (MYS) for each species. The MYS will inform whalers, commercial fisherman, etc. how much of their interest they are able to capture harvest, while not affecting the stable reproduction of this animal. This paper will analyze a population of beluga whales and determine their MYS. While it is difficult to formulate an exact result, due to uncertainty of population size, environmental stochasticity, growth rate etc., it is possible to determine an approximation through logistic growth and exponential growth equations. These equations will demonstrate population trends. Lastly, incorporating a harvest rate into the logistic equation to determine the maximum number of whales may be harvested each year while still maintaining a stable population.

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