Optimal Harvest Licensing When Harvest Success Is Uncertain

Optimal harvests using individual licenses are determined given that a licensee's probabilities of procuring a license and harvesting successfully are less than one. Probabilities are dependent on the resource stock and the number of licenses, and licensees benefit from the harvesting experience itself. Recreational fishing and hunting are applications. The optimum stock may be greater or less than the maximum sustained yield stock, and investing in more stock decreases licenses but increases licensees' success. The optima depend on whether the license agency views applicants as dedicated or social, where the latter are relatively more interested in procuring a license than in a successful harvest.