Aquaculture 2022

February 28 - March 4, 2022

San Diego, California

ALL CLAMS ON DECK: FLORIDA SEA GRANT’S HARVEST PROGRAM – INTERNSHIPS IN SUPPORT OF FLORIDA’S AQUACULTURE INDUSTRY

Vincent G. Encomio*, Holly A. Abeels, Angela Collins, Laura G. Tiu, Chris M. Verlinde, Huiping Yang, Charles F. Sidman, and Sherry L. Larkin.

Florida Sea Grant, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences 2306 Mowry Road, Building 164 Gainesville, FL 32611 vencomio@ufl.edu

 



In 2020, Florida Sea Grant (FSG) initiated an aquaculture training program, HARVEST (Helping Aquaculture Reap Value and Enhance Student Training) , offering  Florida university and college  students part-time internships with aquaculture businesses.  The  internships helped fill a variety of needs expressed by  Florida aquaculture businesses to improve their efficiency, public outreach, productivity, and sustainability.  Students worked as employees of the University of Florida and partnered with an aquaculture business and a FSG agent, specialist, or affiliate. FSG mentors were responsible for establishing the student-business partnership, providing training where warranted, and reporting program results .  The participating aquaculture business  was responsible for training and co-mentoring the student in their  aquaculture practice , providing a safe and hospitable working environment, and agreeing to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) principles to  create a safe working environment for women and minorities.  The vision of the program was to foster a strong and productive working relationship among FSG, businesses, and students.  The HARVEST program provided  internship salaries and additional  funding for  supplies to participating businesses in support of the interns’ work. The interns’ experiences ranged from on-farm production work ,  maintenance of equipment, storm preparation, developing outreach and communications materials  related to offshore aquaculture,  social media marketing in support of an aquaculture business, and  assistance with scientific projects related to improving aquaculture production (for example, evaluating the performance of selectively bred diploid and triploid oysters ,  and assessing the viability of wild oyster spat collection for aquaculture).  Since inception,  7  interns supported 7 businesses, resulting in a $100 ,000 benefit (defraying  employee  and supplies costs) for these industry members .  The HARVEST program  exposed students to the aquaculture industry , provided  financial and workforce support for participating businesses during a particularly difficult period  due to COVID,  and the framework for a continuing program  that will train a future coastal workforce , increasing the competitiveness of the Florida aquaculture industry.