Metapopulation dynamics and stochastic bioeconomic modeling

We analyze the implications of metapopulation dynamics for optimal harvesting of stochastically fluctuating local subpopulations of a species. The effect of migrating individuals on harvest is twoford: a migration effect captures the possibility for 'steering' net migration flows toward the more valuable local population, while a risk term captures the possibility that stochastic fluctuations in different local subpopulations may not be independent. The sign of both effects is analytically ambiguous, implying that harvest intensity can both decrease and increase compared to the conventional, single-population benchmark. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.