The $18-million fish hatchery that Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward pushed through the Pensacola City Council two years ago may not be completed until early 2018, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).
Last Wednesday at the Technical Coordination Committee for the project, Gil McRae, director of the FWC Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, told his fellow committee members that construction on the Gulf of Mexico Marine Fisheries Enhancement Center would not begin until late 2016.
The fish hatchery construction is expected to take around 12-18 months and should be finished in 2017 or early 2018.
McRae said that his hopes for the fish hatchery to already be under construction are just not possible at the moment. There have been several tests on Bruce Beach site to make sure that it is viable. He said that it was better to delay the process now and make sure everything is in working and safe condition than to start working on the hatchery right away and then realize any problems when it is too late.
The delay in the fish hatchery is another setback in Mayor Ashton Hayward’s economic development program. The Deepflex facility scheduled at the Port of Pensacola is on hold due to the decline in crude oil prices. He has had to find a replacement for the $3-million grant for the VT-MAE hangar at the Pensacola International Airport that the FAA denied in January.