Water quality and phosphorus budget model for estimating the carrying capacity for fish rearing at Batang Ai reservoir, Lubok Antu, Sarawak
Fish cage culture in reservoir developed rapidly in order to meet the demand of fish for consumption. Phosphorus loading from fish cage culture activities could cause adverse impacts on the surrounding water bodies. Phosphorus budget model was used to estimate the maximum production from fish cult...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Final Year Project Report / IMRAD |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, UNIMAS
2012
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/6291/ http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/6291/1/Leong%20Chui%20ft.pdf |
| Summary: | Fish cage culture in reservoir developed rapidly in order to meet the demand of fish for consumption. Phosphorus
loading from fish cage culture activities could cause adverse impacts on the surrounding water bodies.
Phosphorus budget model was used to estimate the maximum production from fish culture activities. The aims of
this study were to determine the water quality and estimate the carrying capacity for fish rearing activities in
Batang Ai reservoir, Sarawak. Carrying capacity of the reservoir was calculated based on Dillon and Rigler’s
phosphorus budget model. Water quality parameters were measured at 5 stations, at subsurface, 10 m, and 20 m
depths in October, November 2011 and April 2012 and at subsurface for station 6 in October, November 2011,
and April 2012. Results show that chlorophyll a ranged from 0.38 to 6.02 mgm
-3
, orthophosphate ranged from
0.01 to 0.27 mg/L, and total phosphorus from 0.03 to 0.24 mg/L. The higher concentration of orthophosphate and
chlorophyll a at station 4 and 5 is due to sewage from longhouse community flushed by rain water in station 4
and effluent from fish culture in station 5. The carrying capacity was estimated at 5,948 and 10,641 tonnes per
year based on the different phosphorus content in fish and feed. The estimated value was about 8 to 14 times
higher than the current fish production at Batang Ai reservoir in 2011. Therefore, it is concluded that future
expansion of cage culture activities in Batang Ai reservoir is still feasible. |
|---|