POND© Version 4.0b
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POND Version 4 Beta is available now.
POND is a computer program that has been developed to guide decision making processes relevant to warmwater pond aquaculture. Such computer programs are called Decision Support Systems. POND was written to provide educators, extension agents, managers, planners and researchers with a tool for rapidly analyzing aquaculture systems under different management regimes, and to assist in the development of optimal management strategies.
POND Version 3.0 focuses on providing a detailed view of pond aquaculture at both the individual pond as well as at the facility-level. Pond analysis is accomplished primarily by the use of simulation models combined with an economics package that can be used to generate enterprise budgets for a pond facility. The models are organized hierarchically and proceed from simple ones where fish growth, pond volume, and water temperature are the only state variables, to more complex ones which describe phytoplankton, zooplankton, bacterial and water quality/sediment dynamics in addition to fish growth, pond volume, and water temperature.
The program can be used to set up pond facilities with different configurations and/or management strategies. Mini-databases are maintained for site, pond, associated fish lots (populations) comprising one or more species, source water, soil, weather and cost characteristics. These databases can be used to describe a 'physical' aquaculture facility. Users can also define characteristics of feeds, fertilizers and liming materials.
Once a desired facility has been set up, multiple simulations can be conducted to examine the effects of various pond management scenarios on fish yields and facility-level economics. Pond management scenarios supported include the ability to vary stocking densities and/or species combinations, specify stocking and harvest dates of individual lots, and either specify or allow the model to generate feeding and fertilization schedules, and water balance/flow descriptions through pond facilities. These scenarios can be simulated by the use of either the simple or more complex models. Simple models are expected to be useful for planning/management purposes, and more complex models for short-term management and research applications. A graphics module is available for viewing the results of simulation runs.
Once a simulation is completed, the economics package can be used to generate enterprise budgets on either a per unit area, per unit cost of production or overall facility basis. The budget accounts for fixed, variable, and depreciable costs in addition to income streams that are either user-specified or generated by the model (e.g., fish yields).
Additional features of POND include the ability to customize the software to specific sites and species by the use of a parameter estimation package that compares multiple simulation runs to user-provided fish growth data sets, and arrives at 'best-fit' parameters for the models.
A detailed overview of the applications of the software can be obtained by browsing through the POND tutorial..
POND is written in the C++ programming language and requires an IBM-compatible personal computer running the Microsoft Windows 3.1 or Windows 95 operating environments. The program also needs about 1.5MB of available hard disk space, a minimum of 4MB RAM and the 80386 or greater CPU.
POND is copyrighted to Oregon State University and has been developed by the Biosystems Analysis Group (Department of Bioresource Engineering), with the assistance of the Pond Dynamics/Aquaculture Collaborative Research Support Program (PD/A CRSP) which is funded in part by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
Dr. John Bolte or Dr. Shree Nath
Biosystems Analysis Group
Department of Bioresource Engineering
Gilmore Hall
Oregon State University
Corvallis, OR 97331, U.S.A
Phone: (541) 737-6303
Fax: (541) 737-2082
e-mail: boltej@engr.orst.edu
Biosystems Analysis Group page