INLAND WATER FISH MANAGEMENT (ifM): A DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM (DSS) FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF INLAND WATER ECOSYSTEMS

摘要

This paper describes the development of a Decision Support System for the Management of Inland Water Ecosystems. The overall aim was to design and develop a decision support system that will assist scientists to make decisions related to the management of inland water ecosystems by providing to the users (environmental services, scientists and researchers) organised literature, descriptive and geographic information of species in inland water ecosystems. The application is an effective tool in the framework of a decision support process for the sustainable environmental management and is aiming to provide the ability to use hypothetical scenarios. The proposed DSS is named 'ifM', i.e. Inland Water Fish Management. The main advantages of the application are: its friendly graphical user interface, practical usability, extensibility and functionality without requiring special knowledge of informatics. The benefits of the application include the provision of specialised information to researchers, local authorities and stakeholders and the fact that it can be easily expanded. Finally, the achievement of this application is twofold because it promotes scientific research in the field of inland water ecosystems and it is also an excellent tool for the dissemination of environmental information and the enhancement environmental awareness.