Induced oscillations generated by protective threshold policies in the management of exploited populations

Abstract

Management and conservation of exploited populations have been a central issue in theoretical and empirical studies. In this work, it is shown that threshold policies can induce cyclic behavior in an otherwise exploited stable population as a consequence of the combination of harvest pressure and excessively protective threshold densities. Moreover, the dynamical outcomes generated by these extremely protective policies may vary according to the initial densities. These results may be of significant concern in conservation as well as in management of exploited population.