Aquaculture literacy impacts

NOAA Fisheries, the National Sea Grant Office, and NOAA Office of Education have worked together since 2017 to coordinate NOAA’s efforts supporting aquaculture literacy.

1,155

people registered since 2020

to attend 14 public webinars offered by CoPAL.

aquaculture literacy projects in 6 states

with over 47 collaborating institutions.

500k +

visitors since 2021

to aquariums and informal education institutions hosting eeBLUE aquaculture literacy programming.

A collage of photos each showing an activity from the eeBLUE aquaculture literacy mini-grants. Activities shown range from observing and tending to oysters to cooking seafood and talking with teachers — eeBLUE aquaculture literacy awardees are partnering across sectors to offer everything from cooking classes with K-12 teachers to creating innovative aquarium exhibits, and more. Top (left to right): The Cultured Abalone Farm, Martha's Vineyard Shellfish Group, Canopy Farms and Kaskolos Sea Vegetables, OysterCorps. Bottom (left to right): Aquarium of the Pacific, Canopy Farms and Kaskolos Sea Vegetables, The Cultured Abalone Farm, Aquaculture ME! (Photos courtesy of eeBLUE *Harvest stories*)
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2020-2023 Community of Practice for Aquaculture Literacy impacts

NOAA's Community of Practice for Aquaculture Literacy (CoPAL) was formed in 2020 as a landing space for all interested in leveraging existing resources to expand aquaculture literacy efforts across the country. To date, CoPAL has hosted:

Two workshops led in 2020 with 86 participants from:
- 23 states and tribes,
- 9 aquariums,
- 7 aquaculture industry groups,
- 9 NOAA Fisheries offices,
- 23 Sea Grant programs,
- the National Ocean Service, and
- the Office of Education.
14 public webinars hosted on a variety of seafood topics, with a total of 1,155 people registered.
638 people subscribed to our CoPAL listserv offsite link that delivers aquaculture literacy resources to subscribers every week.

2021-2023 aquaculture literacy program impacts

As part of CoPAL, NOAA is partnering with the North American Association for Environmental Education offsite link (NAAEE) to implement the eeBLUE aquaculture literacy mini-grants program offsite link. To date, eeBLUE has awarded $148,618 to support 10 projects. The mini-grants program has reached:

47 institutions — spanning aquaculture industry members, science learning centers, and aquaculture researchers — enhancing awareness and understanding of aquaculture topics through formal (K-12 and undergraduate) and informal education initiatives.
6 states: California, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Massachusetts, and Ohio.
475 K-12 students.
350 post-secondary students.
More than 700 educators.
1,600 youth and adults reached, including the public, seafood farmers, and chefs.
More than 500,000 visitors to aquariums and informal education institutions hosting eeBLUE aquaculture literacy exhibits.

To learn more about the opportunities and impacts from these projects, you can visit our YouTube playlist of recordings from the February 2023 eeBLUE aquaculture literacy mini-grant symposium, or download the final report summary.