A simulation and decision-support software product for aquaculture facility design and management planning is described (AquaFarm, Oregon State University��), including comprehensive documentation and applications to practical problems. AquaFarm provides (1) simulation of physical, chemical, and biological unit processes, (2) simulation of facility and fish culture management, (3) compilation of facility resource and enterprise budgets, and (4) a graphical user interface and data management capabilities. These analytical tools are combined into an interactive, decision support system, for the analysis and development of facility design specifications and management strategies. Intended user groups include aquaculture research, engineering, education, and production. As guided by the user, aquaculture facilities can be of any type, configuration, and management objectives, for purposes of broodfish maturation, egg incubation, and/or growout of finfish or crustaceans in cage, single pass, serial reuse, water recirculation, or solar-algae pond systems. User-accessible specifications include (1) site climate and water supplies, (2) components and configurations offish culture systems, (3) fish and facility management strategies, (4) unit costs for budget items, (5) production objectives (species, time schedules, and fish numbers and weights), and (6) parameters of unit-process and fish performance models. Based on these specifications, aquaculture facilities are simulated, resource requirements are compiled, and operation schedules are determined so that production objectives are achieved. Facility performance is reported to the user as management schedules, summary reports, resource and graphical compilations of time-series data for unit process, fish, and water quality variables. If unsatisfactory resource requirements or unattainable production objectives are found, procedures of iterative design and management refinement are supported. To provide this analytical capacity, a wide range of existing and newly developed, quantitative methods and models are assembled and synthesized into an integrated analytical framework, including aquatic chemistry, aquatic biology, fish biology, aquacultural engineering, and simulation techniques. Unit-process and system-level validation exercises are demonstrated for a wide range of aquaculture facilities, in which (1) facilities are constructed according to reported studies, (2) simulation trials are accomplished, and (3) good agreement between predicted performance and empirical observations is demonstrated, given that sufficient specification of site-specific variables is provided. / Graduation date: 2000