Dynamical model to estimate carrying capacity in reservoirs with fish farming

Abstract

We propose a dynamical model to estimate the carrying capacity of artificial water bodies with intensive fish farming. The dynamical model builds from the traditional phosphorus budget model by Dillon & Rigler (1974) on cage fish farming on artificial reservoirs. The model consists of two ordinary differential equations. The model determines biomass, fish and phosphorus temporal evolution. The model takes into account additional parameters such as phosphorus loading from external sources, variations on feeding regimes and the further influence of these parameters on the ecosystem eutrophication. Results show that the Dillon & Rigler model is a particular case of the new model by taking a constant feeding rate. In addition, an interactive graphical application was developed to simulate several scenarios, using the software Mathematica 7 ®. This work contributes to fish farming planning and management on artificial reservoirs and other water bodies.