Economic Resource or Mammalian Pest? : A Reconsideration of the Management of Wild Deer

The various kinds of damages currently caused by wildlife throughout Japan can be attributed to the fact that the policies for management and utilization have lacked both a long-term perspective and an examination from the biological and economic points of view┻ This paper┼ therefore┼ addresses the issue of the management of the Yeso deer in Hokkaido and reexamines it┻ The paper presents three main conclusions┻ First┼ when the revenues from forestry products are sufficiently high┼ it will be appropriate to maintain the wildlife resource level lower than the level corresponding to the maximum sustainable yield (MSY)┻ Second┼ there is a possibility that certain changes in the discount rate and the price may lead to a substantial alteration of the management criteria┻ Third┼ there is little difference between the monopoly case and the socially optimum case under the parameter values set in this paper┻