60 SEPTEMBER 2016 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WAS.ORG Production of enough live bait to be profitable requires intensive production methods and technology. Considerable knowledge and training in aquaculture and water quality is needed to manage this business. The quarry owner and the business partner did not have any training or experience in aquatic biology, aquatic science or aquaculture. Furthermore, the partner wanted to retire to manage the live bait venture. Potential use of the quarry for aquaculture poses challenges. Nutrients in effluents associated with intensive feeding could stimulate moderate to dense algal blooms in the quarry. Loss of water clarity could affect much of the marine life presently found in the quarry ecosystem. Additionally there are potential environmental protection issues associated with waste effluents. Some type of low management intensity, low-maintenance aquaculture would have better chances of success. Limestone rock formations typically have many cracks and fissures. Water seeps into and percolates through the limestone and can eventually create larger channels. Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, USA was formed this way. Abandoned limestone quarries often fill with fresh water and the water is clear enough in some of these for SCUBA diving (Fig. 1). Over the years, limestone has been mined in the Florida Keys for road construction. Some abandoned quarries in the area have filled with seawater through cracks, fissures and channels in the limestone formations. In July 2015, two individuals in Florida were seeking aquaculture information about producing live bait for the Florida Keys sport fishing industry. One owns an abandoned limestone quarry in the Florida Keys near Looe Key Reef that is filled with seawater. The quarry surface area is 4.9 ha and the average depth about 9 m. An Abandoned Marine Quarry: A Unique Resource for Aquaculture William A. Wurts ABOVE AND FACING PAGE, FIGURE 1. A SCUBA business at an abandoned west Kentucky limestone quarry that filled with clear water with a Secchi disk depth of 9.25 m (estimate for Kd = 0.184).
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