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Is this a new normal? A white "bathtub ring" exposes the former waterline in Lake Mead during low water levels in July 2021. (istock) Download Image September 27, 2021 Climate Research drought climate change 0

From sea to table: Perspectives on careers in aquaculture Cindy Sandoval holds an aquacultured geoduck during a farm visit to Taylor Shellfish. (Cindy Sandoval, NOAA Fisheries Office of Aquaculture) Download Image September 27, 2021

It's Aquaculture Week! Aquaculture Week celebrates the vital role that aquaculture plays in supporting our nation’s seafood production, creating year-round jobs, rebuilding protected species and habitats, and enhancing coastal resilience. Meet some of the experts working in this important and growing field.

Cindy Sandoval

Cindy Sandoval, a communications specialist for NOAA Fisheries Office of Aquaculture, previously worked as a public affairs specialist and video producer for the Pacific Southwest Region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. She holds an M.A. in professional writing and dual B.S. degrees in biology and public relations from Northern Arizona State University. 

What is something that you were surprised to learn when you started your aquaculture career?

I was surprised and impressed at how the international aquaculture community works together to tackle common challenges and expand ocean stewardship.

What's the best part about working in aquaculture?

I enjoy working in a sector that not only provides tasty seafood, but also improves food security, economic opportunities, and community health.

What advice would you give to educators and their students about the benefits and challenges of aquaculture and how they relate to STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics) education?

We are seeing a growing sense of urgency and optimism around aquaculture. As the global population continues to grow, a number of careers and disciplines will be needed to farm our oceans. Everything from math, biology, business, and culinary arts can be taught through an aquaculture lens.

What's something unique about aquaculture that makes it a fun sector to work or teach in?

I think one of the most interesting aspects of my job is telling the story of farmers. These hard working folks battle the elements and work long days to feed the nation. They are the postal workers of the ocean; they work in snow, ice, heatwaves, and during 3 a.m. low tides. Introducing these farmers and their products to the public is my favorite part of aquaculture. 

Call Nichols

Call Nichols has worked in all aspects of the shellfish business from farming, harvesting, hatchery, marketing, and sales to shucking, education, advocacy, and technology. He’s worked with The Nature Conservancy’s Shellfish Grower’s Climate Coalition offsite link and recently started a position with BlueTrace Shellfish Solutions. 

What is something that you were surprised to learn when you started your aquaculture career?

??I was, and continue to be, surprised by how many different ways there are to grow an oyster. The range of conditions, localities, and regulations are immense. I am consistently blown away by how oyster folk of all stripes have adopted the practice to their unique situations.

What's the best part about working in aquaculture?

Aquaculture is part of the solution. As a society we are up against a host of challenges. Responsible aquaculture addresses some of the most pressing, such as climate change, food insecurity, cultural dissolution, political polarization, and rural economic stagnation. The diversity of people and places involved in aquaculture offers endless inspiration. 

What advice would you give to educators and their students about the benefits and challenges of aquaculture and how they relate to STEAM education?

My advice would be to get out and experience as many aquaculture operations as possible. This sector is so diverse and ripe for innovation. Go see the countless ways in which aquaculture is being practiced in this country. 

What's something unique about aquaculture that makes it a fun sector to work or teach in?

Working in nature often involves some form of extraction. For those of us that love to work outside, growing shellfish is a unique way to work in and with nature to produce food. Aquaculture involves so many aspects of our lives — environment, business, politics, and culture. There is something for everybody. Working in this industry you get exposure to all these different fields and more. 

Jennifer Bushman

Jennifer Bushman offsite link is the founder of Route to Market and a strategy consultant  in the sustainable, ethical aquaculture industry working to provide solutions to complex situations. She has been recognized numerous times by the James Beard Foundation and the International Association of Culinary Professionals as one of the country's top culinary consultants, communicators, and teachers.

What is something that you were surprised to learn when you started your aquaculture career?

I have experienced the challenges and victories at every level of the supply chain, and I know what it takes to champion the water farmer but was surprised to find that so few were doing it. From egg to plate, there’s a unique story to be told, a unique journey to be made, and I am here to help you tell it to the world. 

What's the best part about working in aquaculture?

The best part is knowing that it is not IF but WHEN. Aquaculture has come a long way. But there is so much opportunity and innovation ahead. It gives us a unique and rare opportunity to truly build a new food system as we look to the future. 

What advice would you give to educators and their students about the benefits and challenges of aquaculture and how they relate to STEAM education?

We need you all to help us to develop these innovations in order to achieve best-in-class rearing, highest level animal welfare, and also get costs down. Aquaculture cannot be available only to the few. It is the greatest chance that we have to fight nutritional injustice. 

What's something unique about aquaculture that makes it a fun sector to work or teach in?

While this is not an easy field given the mistakes of the past, we have a unique and rare opportunity to build this "future of food" system and to give it its rightful place at the dinner table. The sky is truly the limit!

Tori Spence McConnell

Tori Spence McConnell, regional aquaculture coordinator and fishery policy analyst for the NOAA Fisheries Pacific Islands Regional Office (PIRO), holds an M.S. in aquaculture and fisheries from the University of Rhode Island. She previously worked as the senior aquaculture scientist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program.

What is something that you were surprised to learn when you started your aquaculture career?

Aquaculture comes in a diversity of forms, serves a diversity of purposes, and is, literally, everywhere.

What's the best part about working in aquaculture?

Aquaculture is both a science and an art — you can get creative with system design, species you'll raise, etc. and each operation is unique.

What advice would you give to educators and their students about the benefits and challenges of aquaculture and how they relate to STEAM education?

Keep it fun! If you're stumped by something challenging in your aquaculture education, look to the other aspects of STEAM to get your brain working creatively and you'll probably come up with a great solution to try! 

What's something unique about aquaculture that makes it a fun sector to work or teach in?

The confluence of understanding biology and physiology at the organism level, ecosystem level, and engineering required to raise species for food, fun, and restoration makes aquaculture an exciting topic for so many disciplines. 

Dan Ward

Dan Ward, Ph.D., is the owner of Ward Aquafarms, LLC. offsite link, and an aquaculture researcher. He holds a Ph.D. in environmental science from the University of Rhode Island. Many of the research and development projects conducted by Ward Aquafarms are collaborative efforts with different Universities in the northeastern United States as well as commercial fisherman, shellfish farmers and town, state, and government agencies such as NOAA and USDA. 

What is something that you were surprised to learn when you started your aquaculture career?

How much farming in the ocean is similar to farming on land. It’s a different environment, but ocean farmers need natural nutrients to grow the plants (natural microalgae) to feed the animals (filter feeding shellfish) which we harvest as a healthy source of protein. And it all requires a lot of labor! 

What's the best part about working in aquaculture?

Working on the water producing seafood for a living, but being home every night. 

What advice would you give to educators and their students about the benefits and challenges of aquaculture and how they relate to STEAM education?

Aquaculture serves as a great platform to integrate STEAM principles into real world scenarios. Whether a farmer is laying out their farm plots for the season or calibrating a sensor to measure water quality, farmers use many STEAM concepts every day. 

What's something unique about aquaculture that makes it a fun sector to work or teach in?

There are opportunities to get your hands dirty and play around with plants and shellfish we grow in the ocean, that many people don't encounter often otherwise. 

Melissa Poe

Melissa Poe, Ph.D., is a social scientist at Washington Sea Grant, earned a Ph.D. in environmental anthropology from the University of Washington, with a specialization in ethnoecology, Indigenous resource management, community-based participatory action research, food systems and well-being. She is the coordinator for the Cross-Pacific Indigenous Aquaculture collaborative offsite link. 

What is something that you were surprised to learn when you started your aquaculture career?

I was surprised that there is an important role for an anthropologist in the aquaculture field.

What's the best part about working in aquaculture?

I love working together with community partners to connect with the water and ancestral knowledge in growing food for people.

What advice would you give to educators and their students about the benefits and challenges of aquaculture and how they relate to STEAM education?

Aquaculture encompasses all the components of STEAM to grow aquatic food. My advice is to include diverse ways of knowing, including traditional knowledge. For example, get to know how First Peoples cultivated marine foods in your area. What technologies have been developed to enhance resources?

What's something unique about aquaculture that makes it a fun sector to work or teach in?

I love the smells of drying seaweed and muddy tidelands!

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Recreational fishing: An American pastime National Fishing and Hunting Day is September 25. Find a spot to fish near you. Young girl fishing from a boat. (iStock) Download Image September 24, 2021 Fisheries recreational fishing fish 0

My journey with NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries A teenage Brijonnay preparing to snorkel in Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary and National Park as part of her Ocean for Life experience. Photo: Claire Fackler/NOAA (Claire Fackler/NOAA) Download Image September 23, 2021

Over 30 years ago, my father immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico seeking a better life. He began as a migrant worker, and was later granted amnesty in 1986. He is one of the hardest workers I have ever met. He never went to college, but understands the importance of education. I was the first person in my family to graduate with a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, and subsequently will be the first in my family to earn a doctoral degree. As I have continued in higher education, I found that among my peers and colleagues there are less and less people of color and people that look like me. Hispanics are underrepresented in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields and the percentage of Hispanic women in higher education is extremely low.

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NOAA awards $60 million in education grants to HBCUs Grants will increase diversity in future STEM workforce September 23, 2021 Welcome to noaa.gov (NOAA) Download Image

As part of NOAA’s continuing long-term commitment to ensuring a future NOAA workforce that is representative of the nation’s population, the agency has awarded grants of up to $30 million, over a five-year period, to two Historically Black Colleges and Universities: Florida A&M University and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. 

“Our nation’s HBCU’s are a precious resource that foster growth, opportunity, and ingenuity, serving as vital incubators for Black innovation and excellence,” said U.S. Department of Commerce Deputy Secretary Don Graves. “Earlier this month, President Biden issued a proclamation to honor and celebrate these critical institutions and these grants further that charge by supporting the next generation of HBCU scientists, researchers and engineers. I am hopeful that these bright minds will eventually find their way towards federal service and help ensure that agencies like NOAA continue to benefit from diversity and inclusion.”

“These grants will strengthen the federal workforce by promoting and advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility,” said Rick Spinrad, Ph.D., NOAA administrator. “This funding will directly benefit students at minority serving institutions who we hope will join the future NOAA workforce and who will contribute to U.S. global economic competitiveness.”

NOAA’s ongoing partnership with Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) is part of the efforts to provide opportunities for students from traditionally underserved communities. These awards provide NOAA the opportunity to train and recruit MSI graduates, who are an underutilized resource to advance America's competitiveness in science and technology innovation. 

These awards, delivered through NOAA’s Educational Partnership Program with Minority Serving Institutions (EPP/MSI) Cooperative Science Centers at the two universities, will train and graduate students in coastal and marine ecosystems and in living marine resources science and management, which are core science fields for NOAA. 

The award to the Cooperative Science Center for Coastal and Marine Ecosystems at Florida A&M University will increase the number of graduates with the skills and competencies necessary to support resilient coastal communities and economies. 

“I must state first how much we welcome this opportunity to expand our ability to contribute to the well-being of coastal communities and ecosystems around the nation,” said Larry Robinson, Ph.D., president, Florida A&M University and principal investigator of the Center for Coastal and Marine Ecosystems. “Our deliberate engagement of underrepresented minorities in education, research and outreach will not only enhance diversity in the NOAA-related coastal and marine science and policy workforce, but also ensure that we stay attuned to the needs of our most vulnerable populations as solutions are developed."

The award to the Cooperative Science Center for Living Marine Resources at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore will provide education, research, and training to students in areas relevant to the NOAA Fisheries mission as well as to NOAA’s healthy oceans research and management priorities. 

“We are absolutely excited about this new Center award, and are deeply grateful to NOAA for its continued confidence in this endeavor,” said UMES President Heidi Anderson, Ph.D. “This investment will be invaluable in enabling the University of Maryland Eastern Shore together with its partner institutions to build on its excellent record of training and graduating a diverse future STEM workforce, particularly in marine and fisheries science."

Since 2001, NOAA’s EPP/MSI Cooperative Science Centers have awarded 2,135 post-secondary degrees to students in NOAA mission-related STEM, natural resource management, and policy fields with funding support from the agency. An additional 258 students are currently pursuing degrees through these programs. Upon graduation, EPP/MSI-supported students are qualified to join the STEM workforce at NOAA, other natural resources and environment agencies, academia, the private sector, and non-governmental organizations. 

These awards have also supported capacity building in NOAA-mission sciences at EPP/MSI centers. Since 2003, EPP center institutions have supported 35% of the PhDs earned by African American graduates in marine science and 30% of the PhDs earned by African American graduates in environmental sciences, as well as 39% of the PhDs earned by Latino graduates in marine science, and 19% of the PhDs earned by Latino graduates in environmental science.

The goal of NOAA’s EPP/MSI is to increase the number of students, particularly from traditionally underrepresented and historically excluded communities, who are educated and graduate in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, natural resource management and policy fields that directly support NOAA’s mission. These awards also provide NOAA’s subject matter experts as student mentors. Additionally, NOAA employees engage in substantial collaboration and engagement in research and professional development to ensure EPP/MSI graduates are ready to join and contribute to the future workforce in career paths aligned with the NOAA mission.

Media contact

Chris Vaccaro, christopher.vaccaro@noaa.gov

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NOAA’s “Picture Climate Change” Student Photo Contest September 21, 2021 A photo submitted to NOAA's “Picture Climate Change” Student Photo Contest: "Drought is real in the West, even after a huge winter storm. Lake levels are dropping everywhere, leaving behind whitewashed rocks that show how much water was once here. I took this picture to show the stark contrast between the old water levels (top of the white rocks) and where it is now." (Student submission to NOAA's “Picture Climate Change” Student Photo Contest) Download Image

How has climate change impacted you? Your family? Your school? Your community? We want to hear your climate impact stories as illustrated by a photo. In what ways has your landscape, wildlife, or way of life changed due to climate shifts? All students in fifth - grade 12 from all U.S. states and territories in recognized public, private, and home schools are eligible to participate. Schools, including home schools, must be in compliance with federal and state civil rights and nondiscrimination statutes. The competition runs through November 15, 2021.

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