Bobad, I put on a disclaimer saying I'm not a Pro.
However, your likeness to brute force is pretty apt and I don't think brute force works in nature. Maybe temporarily but only temporarily. I've tried it and never won.
WARNING! This is going to get wordy. I liken a body of water with fish to a pasture full of cows. The grass is the forage and the cows are the predators. I have always found that the best cattlemen are actually grass farmers. Take care of the forage and the cows will take care of you. You can do rotational grazing of the forage and come out pretty well as long as you don't overstock and thus overgraze. Then the sun bakes the barren ground and no grass grows for years. Not much recovery for quite a while. Or you can plow up the native grasses, plant improved grasses and fertilize. Every year you have to increase the fertilization until you hit the point where nothing grows without heavy fertilization. Let a drought hit and you will be feeding hay. Since droughts hit areas and not individual properties, hay gets pretty expensive and the price of cattle drops. Then your pasture/environment is ruined and you are losing money. I think the original idea of managing resources and not using brute force to improve productivity is the best way to do things.
Like you, I believe in a managed, balanced pond. However, I think the great rewards from brute force are only temporary and may or may not materialize. Mother Nature always balances the scales and corrects our attempts to brute force anything environmental.
But then, I'm not a Pro. Just my opinion; but I have no faith in overstocking of any forms of life. Or maybe I should say that I no longer try to force feed nature. The penalties always seem to out weigh the benefits.
