Is the Fresno Aquarium imaginary?

DavidBrown

DavidBrown

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
Does anybody here know anything about the proposed Fresno Aquarium?

Here is their website: Fresno Aquarium | For California's San Joaquin Valley

They have had a sign along Highway 99 for the last decade claiming that the aquarium is coming soon. From looking at their website it looks like there is a dedicated group of people trying to build a project without a lot of chance of becoming real. I do hope that they are able to build something real. The Central Valley of California does not have an aquarium, but world class aquariums aren't that far away (Monterey Bay, Steinhart, Aquarium of the Pacific). Still, it would be nice if their was an aquarium to serve this region.

Is anybody here involved with this project or have deeper knowledge of it than is available on the website? If so, how is the progress of the project going?
 
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fresno aquarim

Hi David, I haven't heard anything recently, but over several years, I have had several talks and provided prelim drawings of rough exhibits for the project. I have been talking to Tom Lang for about 4 years about his project. Like most projects all over the world, it is tough getting funded. He does have a good group and means well, but it is rough being land locked in Fresno. He does run the local aquarium shop and seems to have several contacts. I think in a few years he will do it, I am not sure of the scale of what finally will be built, but I think he will build something.

Take care,

Dave
 
Thanks very much for the information Dave. I have always been curious about this project since they put up the sign along Highway 99 several years ago. If they talked with you then it seems that they do have serious intent. Hopefully with persistence they can get it built at some scale.
 
Yeah I was actually just in Fresno and from what I got, the gist of it will be your typical Pacific Coast sort of collection, probably like a mixture of Birch Aquarium and a more spread out facility, such as Oregon Coast Aquarium. Doubtful that there will be any large animals besides sea/shorebirds since Fresno Chaffee Zoo has a state-of-the-art Sea Lion Cove with a neat California Sea Lion/Pacific Harbour Seal/Pacific Brown Pelican combination.
 
According to the very short description, the groundbreaking is for phase 1 which is the aquaculture building. This is where fish will be raised for the aquarium. So it sounds like the aquarium itself, the part open to the public, has no specific start time and in fact it says they are still trying to raise funds for this.
 
Update shows a long way to go. They are pouring cement for fire suppression tanks in what will eventually become the aquaculture tanks (by end of 2017 hopefully) which will eventually become the basement of the aquarium. The aquarium itself (according to extremely brief article) has no timeline yet because they still have millions of dollars to raise.
 
Arizona Docent said:
Update shows a long way to go. They are pouring cement for fire suppression tanks in what will eventually become the aquaculture tanks (by end of 2017 hopefully) which will eventually become the basement of the aquarium. The aquarium itself (according to extremely brief article) has no timeline yet because they still have millions of dollars to raise.
Click to expand...

With the zoo being so well-funded and supported by the community, it would be nice if the zoo could combine forces with the aquarium folks to build a high-quality aquarium facility at the zoo. The zoo's sea lion exhibit is world-class and they have a stingray touch pool, so they have some experience with aquatic exhibits.
 
Yes it would be nice (to join with zoo). With the rate the current project is going, I will be surprised if it actually comes to completion.
 
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