Edward Crittenden

Several mined-out and flooded phosphate pits near a large population center in peninsular Florida have been acquired and put under management by the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission for public sport-fishing purposes. Costs of making these abandoned phosphate areas accessible to the public are discussed; fishing pressure and sportfishing success on renovated ponds are reported and compared; and the relationships of size and shape of the ponds to success in fishery management are noted.

The Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission's Fishery Division obtained 3,000 Tilapia nilotica fingerlings from Auburn University on August 30, 1961. These were used as brood fish and were stocked in a 3-acre naturally fertile mined-out phosphate pit in Central Florida at the rate of 1,000 per acre. From time of stocking until May, 1962, there was an estimated 7 inches of growth. During the latter part of May this pond appeared to go into an overcrowded condition. Twelve ponds totaling 65 acres have been stocked with tilapia from the brood pond. Stocking rates have varied from 2...