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Goin' Fishin'
Vogel Bros. schools the industry in how to build a state-of-the-art fish hatchery
By Mark Shaw
Know where the big ones are biting this year?
The Vogel Bros.' Bill Mildner does. In fact, he knows where to find quite a few of them:ig, healthy Florida bass, just waiting to be caught by some lucky stiff, eventually.
That's because Vogel Bros. Building Co., Lakeland Fla., recently completed an award-winning project for the State of Florida: the Florida Bass Conservation Center at the Richloam State Fish Hatchery in Sumter County, about 30 minutes west of Orlando. The project won the AGC 2007 Horizon President's Award, given by AGC of Greater Florida.
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| Florida hatchery uses sophisticated water-treatment systems to maintain clean water. |
"This is much more than just a fish hatchery," says Mildner, who worked as a project manager on the $17.5-million, 186-acre facility. "It's the only high-tech facility of its kind in Florida."
The new conservation center, which replaced a 42-year-old hatchery on the same site, can turn out more than six million fish a year, including up to one million large-mouth bass, more than triple the capacity of the old hatchery.
A sophisticated fish hatchery is as complicated to build as a new wastewater treatment plant because it uses the same high-tech processes to kill bacteria, Mildner says. That's why the 39,000-sq-ft center is being touted more as a "state-of-the-art laboratory" rather than just a place to spawn and grow fish, he says.
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| Florida hatchery uses sophisticated water-treatment systems to maintain clean water. |
It has several high-tech features not seen in many hatcheries today, including an ozone-generation system that cleans and disinfects the water, removing the hydrosulfides, and a system to kill microorganisms with ultraviolet light. It also has one of the best sand-filtration systems in the U.S., making the water quality more conducive to spawning and raising healthy large-mouth bass.
But it wasn't easy to build. The project started out over budget and had to be rebid several times because it called for the procurement and installation of several pieces of high-tech equipment from Europe that were subject to sudden price changes. Vogel also had to work around three major hurricanes during the three-year construction schedule, repairing damage to the 100 acres of spawning ponds on the site in an environmentally sensitive area called the "Green Swamp."
Vogel completed the hatchery portion of the project in June 2007. Eventually, the site will also feature a visitors' center. It's expected to become a big tourist draw, attracting 40,000 people a year and housing a library, data center and laboratory facilities for scientists from around the world. Maybe best of all, the center will have a database to help fisherman research the best spots to catch bass, catfish, bluegill and other varieties of fish.
"It'll be like having a local expert to help plan your next fishing trip," Mildner says.
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