The Great Lakes Aquaculture Collaborative was established in 2019 by Great Lakes regional Sea Grant programs. The collaborative aims to enhance and coordinate aquaculture extension and research work in the region by gathering input from state industry advisory committees, helping to coordinate and fund research and by providing direct education programing to aquaculture related individuals.
In 2022 the collaborative heard from industry that a top priority was fish health education for farmers as well as regulators and future fish health professionals. Due to the limited availability of fish health experts in the region, as well as the relatively small number of potential participants for the workshops, a regional and hybrid approach to a fish health workshop was enacted. This approach was designed to maximize the impact of the workshop by providing a comprehensive overview of fish health with hands on training, while minimizing the number of speakers needed to host the workshops. The format for the workshop included:
The first day took place as a typical virtual series of presentations related to fish health and specifically focused on preventative measures. The second day had in person meeting locations in NY, OH, IL, IN, WI, MI and MN. The day started with two zoom presentations focused on reactive measures in fish health. The presentations were viewed live by in-person participants in each 7 locations with Q&A sessions. Then each state transitioned to separate in person fish necropsies, meeting time with local fish health professionals and regulators, and time to work on daily maintenance and best practices plans for attendees’ farms/labs.
Results from post-evaluations showed successful learning outcomes as well as appreciation for the wide variety of content provided through virtual presentations paired with hands on in person training. Continued post-evaluations will be taking place over the next few months to assess if the learning resulted in actionable changes from attendees.