The News Journal tackles today Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward’s fish hatchery project—“A new home for a fish farm on Bruce Beach?â€
The story is a perfect compliment to the our cover story last week –“Go Fish?â€
Since the public began openly questioning the scientific value and economic impact of a fish hatchery in the city’s downtown commercial core, Hayward has found himself defending what he considers a major achievement of his administration. He has wanted the citizens to believe the fish hatchery will have a “huge impact†on the downtown area,
Others don’t agree and these aren’t people whose insights should be ignored:
UWF economist Rick Harper told the PNJ that a fish hatchery in the urban core makes little sense.
Don Kent, director of Hubbs Sea World Research Institute, said he would have preferred having the facility at the Port of Pensacola. He doesn’t believe it will draw tourists
Ken Ford, the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition founder, questioned whether the hatchery is the best use for Bruce Beach.
Check out the PNJ article.
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History:
The fish hatchery proposal begin in the spring of 2011 when Hayward flew to San Diego to tour Hubbs-SeaWorld’s facilities and met with company officials. About three years earlier, the Florida Wildlife Commission stepped up its fish hatcheries program and had established a goal of having up to 14 hatcheries across the state.
We were told that Hubbs-SeaWorld wanted to find a site, design a facility and break ground in Pensacola within a year. It would create 80 jobs. The two sites that were first under consideration were an empty warehouse at the port and the Main Street Wastewater Treatment Plant site. That is why the Pensacola City Council rushed to approve the concept in 2011.
Two and half years later, the role of Hubbs-SeaWorld in the project has been reduced and only 15 jobs are being projected. This isn’t the same deal that the council was presented and approved.
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