A Cage Aquaculture Decision Support Tool (CADS_TOOL)

This tool consists of four modules: Site Classification, Site Selection, Holding Capacity and Economic Appraisal. The first two modules, Site Classification and Site Selection modules are linked and result in an assessment of the suitability of a particular site for cage aquaculture.

The four modules are:
<ol>
<li>Site Classification - allows a site to be classified into three suitability categories (Poor, Medium or Good) based on water quality, substrate quality, hydrometeorology and socioeconomics parameters.</li>
<li>Site Selection - incorporates scores from the Site Classification module. User defined weights (index of relative importance) are assigned to the criteria in the Site Classification module and the overall suitability of the site is calculated.</li>
<li>Holding Capacity - allows for the calculation of holding or carrying capacity based on four different models. For marine cages, the methods available are: Simplified MOM based on Stigebrandt et al (2004), Tookwinas et al (2004) and Hanafi et al (2006). Palatsu et al (2003) is used for freshwater cages in lakes/dams.</li>
<li>Economic Appraisal - allows for the calculation of a break-even price and return on investment.</li>
</ol>

The Cage Aquaculture Decision Support Tool was developed to allow marine and freshwater cage aquaculture managers to:
1. classify a site
2. select the best site from several site alternatives
3. calculate the sustainable holding density of a chosen site and
4. perform a basic economic appraisal of a farm at that site.

Calculation methods for marine cages:
Hanafi, A., Andriyanto, W., Syahidah, D., Sukresno, B. 2006. Characteristics and carrying capacity of Kaping Bay, Buleleng Regency, Bali for marine aquaculture development (in Indonesian). Kajian Keragaan dan Pemanfaatan Perikanan Budidaya (Editors: Ahmad, T., Syah, R., Mustafa, A.): 83-95.
Stigebrandt A, Aure J, Ervik A, Hansen PK (2004) Regulating the local environmental impact of intensive marine fish farming III. A model for estimation of the holding capacity in the Modelling-Ongrowing fish farm-Monitoring system. Aquaculture, 234: 239-261.
Tookwinas S, Songsangjinda P, Kajonwattanakul S, Singharachai C (2004) Carrying capacity estimation of marine finfish cage culture at Pathew Bay, Chumphon Province, Southern Thailand. Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Centre. TD/RES/91 LBCFM-PD No. 34.

Calculation methods for freshwater cages in lakes/dams:
Pulats&uuml; S (2003) The application of a phosphorus budget model estimating the carrying capacity of Kesikk&ouml;pr&uuml; dam. Turkish Journal of Veterinary Animal Sciences, 27: 1127-1130

Due to its age, AIMS no longer supports CADS TOOL.  The software will no longer run on typical PC&rsquo;s, however, the algorithms are specified in the paper to facilitate coding in Python, R, Matlab etc. 

Halmar Halide, A. Stigebrandt, M. Rehbein, and A.D. McKinnon. Developing a decision support system for sustainable cage aquaculture. Environmental Modelling &amp; Software, 24(6):694-702, 2009.

Dr Halmar Halide, (Universitas Hasanuddin , Makassar) can be contact via the Department of Physics at fmipauh@sci.unhas.ac.id

Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network