FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) - The public will get its first opportunity to see inside a $50 million fish hatchery in Fairbanks this weekend.
The Ruth Burnett Sport Fish Hatchery actually opened 18 months ago, but the Alaska Department of Fish and Game didn’t have funding to staff the visitors center, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported (https://is.gd/3y2J4F).
Fairbanks North Star Borough Mayor Luke Hopkins urged the assembly to give $20,000 to the fish and game department to kick start the opening of the Tanana Valley Fisheries Center, the name given to the visitors center.
The building in downtown Fairbanks is owned by the borough, which leases it for $1 per year to the fish and game department. A visitors center was part of the lease agreement.
The center will officially open this weekend in conjunction with the annual Fairbanks Outdoor Show, which also starts Friday at the nearby Carlson Center.
The hatchery will offer visitors the opportunity to see where fish tens of thousands of fish are grown annually for sport anglers.
A 5,000-gallon aquarium with hatchery-raised fish inside will greet visitors entering the building.
There is no admission charge.
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Information from: Fairbanks (Alaska) Daily News-Miner, https://www.newsminer.com
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