This study examines the contentment and commitment of rural residents from three different perspectives. The first is environmental management, followed by municipal services and finally territorial planning. The study’s objective is to analyze the causal relationships between the expected quality and perceived quality concerning perceived value, satisfaction and citizen loyalty to provide tools for decision-making to public managers. This research proposes a structural equation model to evaluate and validate five hypotheses. For this study, household-level surveys were implemented to a population sample of 450 families in the rural area of Tenguel in Ecuador. The results suggest that the public policies exercised by territorial managers significantly influence citizens’ perceived value, satisfaction, and loyalty, which impacts social welfare. This research shows that there are deficient areas that negatively impact perceived locality, which decreases the perceived value. Such as firefighting service, municipal police, veterinary services, preservation of historical and cultural assets and activities, and facilities for community use.

Effective harvesting strategies are crucial for maximizing annual catch and ensuring the sustainability of lobster (Homarus americanus) farming. This paper presents a nonlinear objective programming model to optimize harvesting intensity based on lobster life cycle dynamics and harvesting characteristics. We model the population dynamics of 1-4 year-old lobsters using differential equations to account for natural mortality, spawning, and harvesting effects. Solving the model with LINGO 12.0, we determine that the optimal harvesting intensity coefficient is 17.36, which maximizes annual catch to 3.88 × 10¹⁰ grams. Results indicate that maintaining harvesting intensity around this optimal value balances economic benefits and population stability, ensuring sustainable farm operations.