Hawai‘i Sea Grant, through its Sea Grant Center of Excellence called the Pacific Region Aquaculture and Coastal Resource Hub, utilized funding from the FY 2022-2023 Sea Grant aquaculture supplemental to provide integrated research, outreach, and education activities that supported sustainable and Indigenous aquaculture projects in Hawai‘i.
This presentation will highlight work that includes: 1) The Hawai‘i Aquaculture Collaborative, an initiative facilitated by Hawai‘i Sea Grant consisting of members of Hawai‘i’s diverse aquaculture industry who have identified industry needs and have been collaborating to grow and strengthen aquaculture in Hawai‘i; 2) An Indigenous aquaculture project examining the impacts of climate change on water quality and fish recruitment in Hawaiian fishponds (loko i‘a); 3) A technology transfer project that is supporting the development of a commercial-scale aquaponics initiative involving tilapia; 4) An aquaculture workforce development project that established 31 paid internships with industry, nonprofits, and academia; and 5) A nonprofit-academia project that is engaging a loko i‘a in native seaweed production and partnering with a local community college to serve as an outdoor laboratory for its certificate program in Hawaiian seaweeds.