Aquaculture intermingles multiple sectors that naturally foster development of interdisciplinary technologies, such as bringing together basic biological research and applied engineering. An open hardware movement is emerging as a robust strategy to support community-level scientific research and applications, and can become a catalyst for interdisciplinary innovations in aquaculture and aquatic sciences. Development of open scientific hardware enables formation of user, maker, and developer communities through increasingly assessable consumer-level design software, fabrication techniques (e.g., 3-D printing), electronics, free exchange of designs and modifications, and a shared sense of mission mediated through internet platforms (e.g., 3dprint.nih.gov). This strategy can be illustrated by examples at the Aquatic Germplasm and Genetic Resources Center (AGGRC, www.aggrc.com), where 24 categories of open hardware (Figure 1) have been developed to support development of germplasm repositories for aquatic species. These innovative solutions were created to tackle real community-level challenges encountered in germplasm repository development that otherwise would be difficult to solve by traditional biological research or proprietary commercial solutions. Because of the recognition of the power of the open-hardware strategy, in addition to prototyping laboratories, a 3-D Printing Farm was established at the AGGRC to batch fabricate (e.g., hundreds of duplicates) to facilitate engagement of user communities. With development of open hardware and interactions with user communities, several major applications of open hardware in aquaculture can emerge, including animal husbandry and handling, sample collection and treatment, laboratory tools, sensing and monitoring, quality management, and outreach interaction.