FLORIDA BASS CONSERVATION CENTER--UPDATES

FBCC DEVELOPMENT UPDATES and IMAGES

If your business would like to develop an agreement to sponsor the FBCC, please contact Bob Wattendorf, Division of Freshwater Fisheries, Marketing Coordinator at 850/488-0520. If you'd like to make a personal or estate contribution, please contact the Wildlife Foundation of Florida and specify the FBCC Fund. A one-page summary on the current status and how to invest is available for sharing with potential sponsors.

The Groundbreaking for the Florida Bass Conservation Center took place in February 2004. Phase I (Research and Production facilities) has been completed and the formal dedication of the facility is scheduled for February 2007.

A slideshow was prepared to provide some background and an overview of the facility.

What follows is a series of images and notes on our progress in reverse chronological order (newest are on the top). Click an image to see a larger photo.

Production Building showing visitor balcony, April 2005.

View of the FBCC fish production building showing the visitor center balcony overlook and the headtank on the south side of the structure.

Low Pressure Air Blowers, April 2005.

Low pressure air blowers being installed in the process treatment room of the FBCC. These large blowers will provide low pressure air to all fish culture tanks in the production building and the fish transfer structure.

80-ft raceways for spawning fish, April 2005.

View of 80-ft raceways and I-beam structure to support suspended feeders over each raceway. Raceways will be used to spawn largemouth bass, channel catfish, and rear largemouth bass fingerlings to advanced sizes.

Fiberglass Tanks for fry culture, April 2005.

30-ft fiberglass tanks and 6-ft catfish troughs will be used to culture fry and fingerling fish. Supports over tanks will hold water supplies, electric, low pressure air, high pressure air to operate automatic fish feeders, and pure oxygen to permit high density culture in tanks.

Ultraviolet sterilizers, April 2005.

Ultraviolet sterilizers have been installed in the process water treatment section to provide sterilization to both recycle water and to the reservoir water .

Head Tank, January 2005

The elevated head tank, with attached ladder and top hand rail, serves as the storage area for recycle and well water used in fish culture tanks inside the Production Building.

Interior of Production Building, January 2005.

Production Building with 80-ft raceways for intensive spawning and rearing of fish. In back are biologists' office and fish health labs that open onto the tank room floor. Second story windows provide an overlook from the elevated Visitors Center.

North view of Production building, January 2005.

North side of the Fish Production Building. The foreground is the large fish culture facility containing raceways and fish culture tanks. The background is the two story office / laboratory/ visitor center complex.

South view of Production Buildking, January 2005.

South side of the Fish Production Building and the Fish Transfer facility on the extreme right. The foreground shows ongoing construction of the water recycle system, which will allow all discharge water from the fish culture tanks to be reused in outdoor ponds.

Fish Production Building, December 2004.

Fish Production Building's East side showing new exterior siding. This area will house fish culture tanks, raceways and storage areas. The structure in the foreground is the Fish Transfer Pavillion.

Fish Transfer Pavillion, December 2004.

The Fish Transfer Pavillion includes 14 concrete raceways, which will hold pond harvested fish. It is two-tiered which so fish can be off-loaded into tanks on the upper level and loaded into hauling trucks on the lower level.

Foundation for Production Building, November 2004.

The cinder blocks for the production building are being added and an initial coat of white paint added to the production building.

Framing Production Building, October 2004.

The steel frame for the production building.

80-foot raceway

Completed construction of the 80-ft concrete raceways, which will be used for spawning and advanced growout of largemouth bass.

Structural steel for lab and office, September 2004.

Structural steel being erected to form the office and lab areas.

Head tank construction, August 2004.

This head tank will house the pumps, filters, and sterilization equipment that will allow up to 6,000 gallons per minute to be recycled through the building.

Shop construction, June 2004.

One of the first new structures to be framed out is the shop, which began to rise in June 2004.

Removal of old clay pipe, June 2004.

A major renovation need was removal of the old clay pipe plumbing that began in Jun3 2004.

Head tanks, April 2004.

Head Tanks provide gravity fed water for raceways.

Bunkhouse demolition, March 2004.

The old bunkhouse was demolished in March 2004 to make room for new renovations.

Demolition of the old fish house, February 2004.

Demolition of the old fish house, February 2004, as the first step in a total renovation of the old Richloam Fish Hatchery and creation of the new state-of-art Florida Bass Conservation Center.