The growth of the U.S. aquaculture industry has elevated both the need for, and the attention paid to, workforce development initiatives. Yet, while there is broad recognition around the importance of workforce development, industry and educator efforts to encourage greater participation in the sector are not often aligned across the workforce pathway.
Over the past three years, Meridian Institute has been facilitating conversations and action around the ways workforce development can support the long-term sustainability of responsible U.S. aquaculture. As a non-profit that specializes in serving as a trusted third party in collaborative decision-making processes, Meridian has focused on fostering, elevating, and leveraging connective opportunities for the aquaculture sector to strengthen its own workforce development capacity.
Our engagement has revealed that when it comes to workforce development, trainees, educators, and industry often lack a shared understanding on: (1) the realm of career options in U.S. aquaculture, (2) the skills needed to succeed in these jobs, and (3) career pathways through the industry. In response to this need, Meridian has been working to build an interactive workforce pathways mapping tool that guides decision-making for trainees, educators, and industry alike.
Our work focuses on how collaborative processes were critical to this tool’s development, including synthesized interview research, insights from a stakeholder community of practice on aquaculture DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion), roundtable dialogues on workforce development, and an advisory panel informing tool design. We will also highlight the tool’s potential to facilitate further collaboration — whether through iterative development or by identifying opportunities for multiple entities to jointly address the sector’s workforce challenges.