Preparing the Sea Grant workforce for the future: The Sea Grant Aquaculture Leadership Academy

Objectives

The proposed project has three objectives to develop, implement, and assess the ALA: 

• Develop an applied and interdisciplinary curriculum tailored to the needs of Sea Grant staff that is informed by network needs and designed with input from industry members of all sizes, academic researchers from multiple disciplines, community groups, Indigenous leaders and policy-makers
• Implement the hybrid curriculum consisting of remote but interactive lessons followed by multi day, in-person, experiential learning opportunities at two strategic pilot geographic locations (Northeast; NH and Mid-Atlantic; NC) for two consecutive annual cycles.
• Complete both formative and summative evaluations of the Academy relative to the program goals and to inform future network plans.

Methodology

Curriculum development will be broadly coordinated by PIs in close collaboration with an ALA Advisory Board. This group will consist of project PIs (Kenter, Williams, Herbst, and Lopez) with additional, diverse representation from across disciplines, regions, and professional associations. 

The Advisory Board will provide advice to the PI team to aid in the outlining of all materials, recruitment of partners (e.g., presenters, panel members) reviewing of content, and assistance coordinating future evaluations. The proposed ALA curriculum will fall within three categories: 

1. Major sectors of US aquaculture - Broad level presentations with standardized outlines produced by Sea Grant experts and/or close partners for a suite of major aquaculture sectors (Finfish, Shellfish, Other, and Marine Policy). Virtual presentations will include the technical, biological, legal and social sciences for each sector followed by a panel discussion.
2. Specialized topics in US aquaculture - A suite of curriculum offerings recently identified as necessary knowledge, skills or abilities by the Sea Grant aquaculture network through a series of surveys (Technical, communications, etc). These sessions will be custom designed based on the topic offered before and during venue visits.
3. Experiential and peer learning opportunities - Two strategic geographic locations (Northeast; NH and Mid-Atlantic; NC) will be utilized for in person workshops and field trips for four consecutive days each. In-person workshops will also include structured and unstructured time for the participants to network and learn from each other and the experiences they each bring to the. Lastly, we will assess the short and mid-term effectiveness of the ALA while setting the stage for longer-term measurables and future potential ALA efforts in other regions. This will be conducted using pre- and post surveys for all participants in ALA as well as brief feedback surveys as part of the learning assessments.

Rationale

The advancement of a US domestic aquaculture industry is a complex topic and highly interdisciplinary issue. Despite substantial coastal and inland resources for seafood farming and significant demand for seafood demonstrated by the fact that approximately ~90 of products consumed in the US are imported, we still rank 16th in aquaculture production globally. This suggests that factors beyond population size or demand exist and there are additional obstacles to sustainable and environmentally responsible industry expansion. These include but are not limited to high production costs, prioritization of other coastal uses (e.g., fishing, tourism, development), lagging social acceptance, policy decisions at the federal and state levels, and the current legal and regulatory environment. 

Sea Grant programs around the country have been serving the aquaculture community and more broadly the US working waterfronts and seafood sector for ~50 years through research, extension, education and outreach. As the domestic aquaculture landscape continues to rapidly evolve and constant innovations strive for sustainable production, it is critical that we ensure that the next generation of Sea Grant professionals are well-rounded experts in this field and are able to draw from and connect to the wide range of expertise necessary to help support an environmentally sound and sustainable industry. Through leveraging the overall Sea Grant model of community engagement and extension coupled with research capacity and expertise, the ALA will help the Sea Grant network build improved capacity to drive change and innovation across the country.