The national Sea Grant Program provided Aquaculture Supplemental funding for FY 2022-23 to support two research projects through the New Hampshire Sea Grant Program. The main activity was “Temporal dynamics of phytoplankton populations in coastal NH”. Work informed by state agency and federal monitoring program needs included sampling weekly at two locations that are adjacent to the two main aquaculture areas in the NH Seacoast. Results documented variability in phytoplankton community structure that differed between the two areas. Quantification of both abundance and community composition across several annual cycles included the first characterization of wintertime phytoplankton community dynamics in Great Bay and captured several significant phytoplankton bloom events. Shorter-term examinations of the temporal variability in the bulk nutritional quality of the plankton in Great Bay suggested that detrital material, in addition to live plankton, is likely an essential food source for filter feeders in Great Bay. The study has provided results now used to better manage aquaculture interests and better predict climate change impacts on phytoplankton-driven implications for marine food webs and aquacultural productivity. Relationships between research scientists and aquaculture managers through this new effort to study phytoplankton have begun to foster collaborative long-term management of aquaculture production in NH and provide a baseline understanding of phytoplankton population dynamics in coastal NH, that can be applied to future studies in a rapidly warming Gulf of Maine. Beneficiaries of this project include the state’s shellfish aquaculture and associated industries, coastal communities and their economies, coastal managers and regulators, and the public. The other funded activity was an Aquaculture Extension Postdoctoral Fellowship where the postdoc explored the potential production of different halophytes as part of marine aquaculture operations. After publishing a review showing underutilization of Salicornia species in New England, the postdoc-initiated studies on the propagation of native Salicornia species as a first step towards greater utilization of this halophyte in local marine aquaculture operations, where pilot studies have already begun.