The super intensive eel aquaculture recirculating system (SEARS) was introduced to Taiwan in 1994. Management of the SEARS is different from the traditional pond management because more automations are used to monitor and control culture operations. The productivity of the automated SEARS may be increased through the use of computer aid program for management. However, most available computer programs for the SEARS are related to water quality and temperature monitoring and controls. Due to the complexity of the biological factors, few help can be obtained on analyzing data and providing real-time information to eel farmers. Therefore, there is a need to develop a computer program for the SEARS to manage aquaculture farms.
A software program is particularly developed for the SEARS. The software is a powerful tool for the SEARS managers. The program is user-friendly and eel farmers can easily use their current aquaculture records to run analysis. The program can handle ten sets of SEARS’s hardware systems and each set can expand to a maximum of 100 tanks. This design would provide sufficient spaces for eel farmers to expand their systems. The program also allows more than one eel species to be be raised in a farm.
The software consists of four modules: eel management, financial management, feed management, and the farm dairy. Each deals independently with a particular purpose. The program includes three analytical tools: eel aquaculture analysis, financial analysis, and feed stocking analysis. The eel aquaculture analysis is also divided into the productivity analysis on the tank history and the production analysis on current culture tanks. The former shows the production history of a tank; the latter discloses the status of tanks of current use. The program provides managers an integrated information to improve the productivity of the eel farms.
Key words: Super-intensive aquaculture, Recirculating eel aquaculture system, Computer aid