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The use of thermal modelling in improving rural subsistence aquaculture

There has been a long history of attempts to promote subsistence rural aquaculture within South Africa. Many of these attempts have failed due to inadequate support from government and support agencies. There has been a recent revived interest in promoting rural aquaculture development. Presented in this project are six scenarios demonstrating the potential application of thermal modelling techniques to improving subsistence rural aquaculture. These scenarios were based on a model validated against a real life system, and run with environmental data for the year 2005. Bovine manure, grass thatch, cereal straw and Typha spp. water reeds were tested for thermal performance. These results were then applied to the scenarios. The open and kraal enclosed pond scenarios yielded the widest deviation in temperatures throughout the year, with an average temperature of 3.8oC and 6.0oC above ambient and a temperature range of 10.6oC and 12.4oC for the year respectively. Eliminating solar radiation and reducing wind speed resulted in an average difference of 1.5oC below ambient and a temperature range of 7.5oC for the year. When completely enclosed in a well-sealed traditional Xhosa style hut, the pond had an average difference of 5.6oC below outside ambient temperature, with a range of 7.8oC for the year. A passive solar heating scenario added to the sealed hut scenario, which when run continuously maintained an average difference of 34.7oC above outside ambient temperatures, with a range of 56oC for the year. When a hypothetical 25oC temperature control was included in the model, the system maintained an average of 7.1oC above ambient outside temperatures, with a temperature range of 0.8oC throughout the year. The wider range of temperatures made available through the use of thermal modelling approaches provides a more diverse range of species available for subsistence rural aquaculture at any site, significantly improving its potential.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nmmu/vital:10715
Date January 2007
CreatorsBailey, Dylan Francis
PublisherNelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Faculty of Science
Source SetsSouth African National ETD Portal
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis, Masters, MSc
Formatv, 113 leaves, pdf
RightsNelson Mandela Metropolitan University

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