A decision support tool for aquaculture

DESTA ( cision upport ool for quaculture) is a recently developed software tool that aids aquaculture management with decisions regarding optimal site selection and design for new aquaculture facilities. The software is based on a conceptual framework for rating soil and water information for aquaculture developed by Hajek and Boyd (1994). The information required to make an assessment is input into the program through a series of interactive dialogue screens. DESTA then processes the information and produces limitation ratings for each environmental parameter supplied by the user. DESTA produces a tabular summary of user responses classed into slight, moderate and severe limitation ratings. If sufficient information has been supplied by the user, DESTA will provide an estimate of the potential of a new site for aquaculture. The software is written in Visual Basic 3.0 Professional and operates under Windows 3.1. DESTA is a valuable decision support tool for aquaculture professionals engaged in the selection and development of new sites for aquaculture.