2020-2024 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:
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Two workshops led in 2020 with 86 participants from:
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23 states and tribes,
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9 aquariums,
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7 aquaculture industry groups,
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the National Ocean Service, and
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the Office of Education.
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15 public webinars hosted on a variety of seafood topics, with a total of 1,295 people registered.
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1,336 people subscribed to our CoPAL listserv offsite link that delivers aquaculture literacy resources to subscribers every week.
2021-2024 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 $313,618 to support 19 projects. The mini-grants program is reaching:
- 98 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.
- 11 states: California, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Ohio, South Carolina, and Washington.
- 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 for the first cohort of grantees.