(Above) A 40-foot-long habitat for fish that spent the warmer parts of seven years on the main branch of the Chicago River. (Click on image to view larger version.)

March 20, 2013 – With the city promising similar structures along the riverwalk, Friends of the Chicago River has decided to close the doors of its floating fish habitat on the main branch.

The “fish hotel,” first built in 2005 near Michigan Avenue by WRD Environmental, was relocated across the river from Marina City in 2008. It was quietly dismantled last fall.

The three-level, 40-by-10-foot hotel included floating and submerged plants, brush, logs, and cribs at various depths in which for fish to eat and sleep. Nets around the hotel kept waterfowl from eating the plants.

“A well-loved and inspired demonstration project, Friends decided that the Fish Hotel had served its educational and functional purpose,” the group announced Wednesday on its web site. “The City of Chicago has promised to include similar habitat structures in the emerging Chicago Riverwalk. That promise, much cleaner water, and the pending improvements to fish-related water quality standards present a bright future for our river’s fish.”

The fish hotel won awards from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Illinois Landscape Contractors Association.

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