Hawai‘i’s aquaculture sector, rooted in traditional fishpond practices and emerging commercial operations, offers opportunities for sustainable food production, local employment, and economic growth. While the state’s industry is relatively small compared with major U.S. aquaculture producers, Hawai‘i’s unique cultural and environmental context positions it as a site for innovative, place-based aquaculture education. This project assessed the state’s aquaculture workforce development system through two online surveys for educators and industry employers and follow-up interviews with 20 stakeholders. The goal was to identify training gaps, collaboration opportunities, and strategies to strengthen employment pathways.
Educator responses revealed great interest in incorporating aquaculture skills into their curriculum, but highly uneven access to resources and industry-aligned curricula. With the exception of a few highly integrated programs, most K-12 schools have small-scale aquaponics systems that have been dormant since the pandemic. Though most teachers maintain community and university partnerships, efforts to integrate aquaculture into curriculum are fragmented and lack consistent pathways into higher education or employment. Robust high school aquaculture programs note funding issues and the need to better support student success in core academic subjects. University faculty, though deeply committed to students and the discipline, face enrollment challenges in specialized programs and uncertainty about future funding. Industry partners and community fishponds express interest in supporting education but require sustained, reciprocal relationships rather than short-term outreach or grant-driven projects. Many reported difficulty finding job-ready candidates with both technical and career-readiness skills, citing shortages in husbandry, plumbing, facility maintenance, and reliability. While employers frequently collaborate with educational institutions, most partnerships are informal and lack structured components.
To address these gaps, we propose developing a Hawai‘i Aquaculture Workforce Network that links schools, universities, fishponds (loko i‘a), SeaGrant, and commercial farms. Participation will be flexible and collaborative, ensuring that partnerships evolve according to community interest and capacity. By linking education, culture, and industry through shared learning and collaboration, this approach strengthens the state’s aquaculture pipeline and supports the regeneration of Hawai‘i’s place-based blue economy.