WV trying Aquaculture in Recycled Coal Mines. No Really!

[lettucehead]

Coal Mines as Fish Farms? That's the Hook in W.Va.
Updated: 9 hours 30 minutes ago

http://www.aolnews.com/nation/articl...n-wva/19495621

[GaryD]

Hi Lettucehead,

It's an interesting use for an old mine......or the water at least.

By all accounts, there would be no shortage of old mines in West Virginia.

Gary

[wenger230]

Great it helps in environment also. You are making the interesting change for the workers as well as people who living there.

coal mines queensland

[GaryD]

Hi wenger230,

Welcome to APHQ.

Mining will be controversial.......wherever it happens......so I guess anything that helps to offset the impact (and the bad press) is going to be useful.

Gary

[Crusty]

The first wave of West Virginia aquaculture investors didn't pay strict attention to operating margins and had unrealistic visions of windfall profits. "The expectation was that this is a quick-return or high-return kind of business. It isn't," says Freshwater Institute's Hankins.

I expect over the next few years, with the every increasing waves of "commercial aquaponic consultants" with zero commercial knowledge or experience we will see more. More and more backyarders thinking growing some veg in blue barrels and killing 100s of fish qualifies them as commercial consultants. I am very sure watching these activities over the next few years will prove interesting. Though it is true some of the investors that get into it, tend to have "unrealistic visions of windfall profits", combine that with the mountain of inexperience and lack of genuine information, we will see many more go broke.

Great it helps in environment also.

Maybe I don't get the whole idea of using mines for aquaculture, perhaps it is the way the article is written. The supporting information outside that article says one farm Mountaineer Trout Farm in existence (and one failed hatchery) after 20 years of trials, has failed and been rebuilt, but only uses the mines as a water source.

How is this any different from putting bore down for water and how does this help the environment? That farm is a raceway system which means massive turn over of water, millions and millions of liters a day go in an then out the other end (to where?). I suspect writing a good story has taken precedence over research and accuracy in that article.