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The main goal of this work is to assess and compare the influence of Allee effects in profit optimization of stochastically fluctuating harvested populations considering several harvesting policies. The policies to compare are based on constant, variable, and stepwise harvesting efforts. For application purposes, the population growth models considered are the logistic model and a logistic-like model with weak Allee effects. In recent work, we have shown that the optimal harvesting policy with variable effort is inapplicable whereas the optimal harvesting policy with constant effort is easily applicable and leads to population sustainability. However, the latter implies profit losses, comparing to the first one. So, we consider a stepwise policy which is applicable but shares some of the problems with the optimal policy based on variable effort. We also show that some of the disadvantages of the optimal policy are eliminated by considering a penalized profit with an artificial running energy cost on the effort. However, the applicability problems remain. Finally, in terms of optimal profit, we study the influence of Allee effects on all policies and check whether Allee effects should or should not be taken into account when designing harvesting policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, stochastic differential equations are used to model the dynamics of a harvested population in the presence of weak Allee effects. Two optimal harvesting policies are presented, one with variable effort based on optimal control theory, which is for practical reasons inapplicable in a random environment, and the other with constant effort and easily applicable. For a logistic‐like model with weak Allee effects, we show that the optimal policy based on constant effort implies, in a suitable range of effort values, the existence of a steady‐state stochastic equilibrium with a stationary density, obtained explicitly here, for the population size. With this new result, we compare the performance of both policies in terms of the profit obtained over a finite time horizon. Using realistic data from a harvested population and a logistic‐type growth model, we quantify the profit reduction when choosing the optimal policy based on constant effort instead of the optimal policy based on variable effort. We also study the influence of the Allee effects strength. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]