Renewable Resource Management : Proceedings of a Workshop on Control Theory Applied to Renewable Resource Management and Ecology Held in Christchurch, New Zealand January 7 – 11, 1980

As society becomes stressed by economic and population pressures, in turn, nature's renewable resources become stressed by harvesting pressures. For our own survival and euphoria, it is paramount that such resources remain as their name implies and not be driven to extinction through short term programs of over exploitation. Consideration of the harvesting of renewable resources leads to a simple question that was the theme of the workshop and is the focus of these proceedings: SUPPoRe you are assigned the role of manager for a specific renewable resource eco­ system. How would you decide on harvesting policies so that the system can be exploited economically yet at the same time maintain the integrity of the system? This, of course, is a loaded question. First of all, it is not clear that there is ever anyone single decision maker who is able to set the rules for all of the harvesters in an exploited ecosystem. The political process is complicated and to some extent unpredictable. This aspect of the question is recognized to be important, but could not be addressed here. Assuming then that someone really is in charge, what would be involved in the \* decision making process? As Clark points out, "there is no alternative but first to model the system. " We agree. However, if the original question was loaded, modeling is the adulterate. As society becomes stressed by economic and population pressures, in turn, nature's renewable resources become stressed by harvesting pressures. For our own survival and euphoria, it is paramount that such resources remain as their name implies and not be driven to extinction through short term programs of over exploitation. Consideration of the harvesting of renewable resources leads to a simple question that was the theme of the workshop and is the focus of these proceedings: SUPPoRe you are assigned the role of manager for a specific renewable resource ecoƯ system. How would you decide on harvesting policies so that the system can be exploited economically yet at the same time maintain the integrity of the system? This, of course, is a loaded question. First of all, it is not clear that there is ever anyone single decision maker who is able to set the rules for all of the harvesters in an exploited ecosystem. The political process is complicated and to some extent unpredictable. This aspect of the question is recognized to be important, but could not be addressed here. Assuming then that someone really is in charge, what would be involved in the * decision making process? As Clark points out, "there is no alternative but first to model the system." We agree. However, if the original question was loaded, modeling is the adulterate Front Matter....Pages I-XII Mathematical Models and Resource Management....Pages 1-5 More Realistic Fishery Models: Cycles Collapse and Optimal Policy....Pages 6-20 Age-Structure and Stability in Multiple-Age Spawning Populations....Pages 21-45 Optimal Management of Optimal Foragers....Pages 46-53 Modelling and Management of Fish Populations with High and Low Fecundities....Pages 54-63 Adaptive Identification of Models Stabilizing Under Uncertainty....Pages 64-78 Computational Difficulties in the Identification and Optimization of Control Systems....Pages 79-94 Economic Models of Fishery Management....Pages 95-111 Vulnerability of a Prey-Predator Model Under Harvesting....Pages 112-132 Nonvulnerability of Two Species Interactions....Pages 133-150 Estimating Controllability Boundaries for Uncertain Systems....Pages 151-162 Estimating the Effect of Krill Harvesting on the Southern Ocean Ecosystem....Pages 163-173 Appraisal of the Commercial Potential of the New Zealand Deepwater Fishery....Pages 174-188 Subinjurious Maintenance Strategies for Optimal Control of Nematodes....Pages 189-205 A Plant-Water Model with Implications for the Management of Water Catchments....Pages 206-224 Mathematical Modelling of the Transport and Loss of Leachable Plant Nutrients in Field Soils....Pages 225-236