Overview
- A CONICET–ILPLA team, backed by a new agreement with the provincial Subsecretaría de Minería, is surveying a preselected group of about 20 water-filled quarries to judge how they can be reused.
- Field work targets sites in Greater La Plata, including Villa Elisa and southern and southwestern areas, as well as quarries in Samborombón and Florencio Varela.
- Researchers collect water and microbiological samples and use echosounders to create 3D maps of depth and bottom relief to test whether adapted floating-cage rearing of pejerrey could succeed.
- Quarries are smaller, deeper, and more sheltered than pampas lagoons and have little inflow, which can mean cleaner water yet less natural zooplankton, so the fish-rearing method must be adjusted.
- If a quarry is not fit for aquaculture, the plan favors socio-ecotourism steps such as interpretive trails, safety signage, education, regulated fishing, and birdwatching to replace risky informal use.