Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations pond carrying capacity

S69 says "i know a few die, a few get caught to eat, but they are also spawning and producing more lbs. what am i missing here?"
Several items need to be considered / remembered.

1. The carrying capacity and fishery balance changes as ponds age.

2. You are correct a few die, although the number is almost always more than a "few". Expect 10-35% maybe 40% early deaths depending on the source and handling. Often dead fish don't float.

3. Once the pond reaches carrying capacity natural annual mortality is high usually 20%-30% of the older/adult fish. These annual deaths are not always apparent and usually go unnoticed. This is why annual harvest is wise, efficient use of the resource.

4. In balanced communities or high predatory populations, few new fish survive long enough to be adult recruits.

5. Your 450lbs/ac figure may not be remembered correctly or the source of the info may not have been accurate or can not be applied to every situation. Rarely is one carrying capacity figure all inclusive. "It always depends."

6. In good poly culture, diverse communities where different species will utilize different niches, this allows less direct competition and ultimately higher carrying capacities.

7. Different ponds (situations) can have higher natural and artificial carrying capacities depending on habitat and soil type.

When ponds that are thought to have lots of fish are eventually drained / renovated, the owner asks "what happened to all the fish that were supposed to be in there?" Just because fish are stocked does not mean all or even lots are surviving. What should be in the pond and what poundage calculates on paper are not always the reality, especially in mature fisheries. Newly established fisheries always seem to be better in early 'life' than after that fishery and the pond becomes older and the types of productivity shift from "newer"(1-10 yrs) systems to "aged" (15-20+ yrs often eutrophic - hypertrophic ) systems.