Sustainability and optimal control of an exploited prey predator system through provision of alternative food to predator.

In the present paper, we develop a simple two species prey-predator model in which the predator is partially coupled with alternative prey. The aim is to study the consequences of providing additional food to the predator as well as the effects of harvesting efforts applied to both the species. It is observed that the provision of alternative food to predator is not always beneficial to the system. A complete picture of the long run dynamics of the system is discussed based on the effort pair as control parameters. Optimal augmentations of prey and predator biomass at final time have been investigated by optimal control theory. Also the short and large time effects of the application of optimal control have been discussed. Finally, some numerical illustrations are given to verify our analytical results with the help of different sets of parameters.