Aquaculture development in Kumaon hills: A spatial decision support system approach.

Abstract

The proposed decision support system will be useful for farmers, researchers, planners and policy makers as it facilitate in selecting the appropriate location as well as different types of fish species for aquaculture development in that region. The aquaculture is one of the fastest growing food production system in the world in comparison to stagnation yield from many capture fisheries. In increasing demand for fish and fishery products, the requirement for aquaculture to increase its contribution to the world’s production of aquatic food are in high. In absence of proper database system leading to inadequate development of aquaculture in hilly region, an interactive user-friendly system is required to be created in order to make planning for the aquaculture development with least investments. In the present study, the proposed system will provides a Geographical Information System (GIS) based decision support system known as spatial decision support system (SDSS) for aquaculture development in Kumaon region.Use of this decision support system can facilitate in selection of a suitable aquaculture system in considering various aspects of user’s need. The study was carried out at ICAR-Directorate of Coldwater Fisheries Research, Bhimtal for the different villages of Nainital district, Uttarakhand.