{"id":75653,"date":"2018-03-04T08:00:26","date_gmt":"2018-03-04T18:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=75653"},"modified":"2020-08-07T14:29:57","modified_gmt":"2020-08-08T00:29:57","slug":"uh-hilo-aquaculture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2018\/03\/04\/uh-hilo-aquaculture\/","title":{"rendered":"<abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> Hilo center grows oysters and the aquaculture workforce"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><div class=\"responsive-video-wrap\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"676\" height=\"380\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Uo7CCj7Y3V8?rel=0&amp;showinfo=0\" title=\"YouTube video player\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/hilo-aquaculture-oysters.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/hilo-aquaculture-oysters-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"An open oyster\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-75704\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/hilo-aquaculture-oysters-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/hilo-aquaculture-oysters-630x353.jpg 630w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/hilo-aquaculture-oysters.jpg 676w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Tanks full of ornamental fish and oysters are bubbling on the Big Island at the University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at Hilo <a href=\"http:\/\/pacrc.uhh.hawaii.edu\/\">Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resources Center<\/a>. Here, hundreds of students have gained valuable hands-on experience at the nine-acre center in Keaukaha, developing aquaponics and raising ornamental and food fish, shellfish and algae throughout the year.<\/p>\n<p><abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> Hilo Associate Professor <strong>Maria Haws<\/strong> serves as the center\u2019s director. She says about 400 students have been employed since workforce training started there in 2008.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We (also) have interns and volunteers and research students. They\u2019ve learned everything about aquaculture production, everything from the hatchery, where we might produce juvenile fish or juvenile oysters, everything up to the actual farming of these organisms,&rdquo; says Haws.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/hilo.hawaii.edu\/\"><abbr>UH<\/abbr> Hilo<\/a> has the only four-year <a href=\"https:\/\/hilo.hawaii.edu\/academics\/cafnrm\/specializations\/aqua.php\">aquaculture program<\/a> in the state, and the center has the only facility dedicated to aquaculture and coastal management education, research and outreach to the community and industry.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I get to do a lot with fish and fish rearing systems so I get that hands-on knowledge that I wouldn\u2019t get if I was just sitting in a classroom,&rdquo; says <strong>Orion Friels<\/strong>, a sophomore majoring in aquaculture. &ldquo;I feel like I\u2019m learning a lot more this way.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hope Helg<\/strong> earned her agroecology degree from <abbr>UH<\/abbr> Hilo in 2011. Today she manages the algae laboratory that feeds oysters and other marine organisms at the center.<\/p>\n<p>Helg says working at the center as a student prepared her and others well. &ldquo;It\u2019s a good way of critical thinking and being creative, and it sets students up for the future in the real world,&rdquo; she said.<\/p>\n<p>Besides training the workforce and researchers of tomorrow, the <abbr>UH<\/abbr> Hilo center is helping to develop sustainable seafood production.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We import 80 percent of our seafood in <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>. What could be more important than trying to be more self-reliant in food and also conservation?&rdquo; asks Haws. &ldquo;Almost everything we do in aquaculture has a tie to conservation if not directly influencing conservation efforts.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The center\u2019s work is gaining national recognition. It is a partner with <a href=\"http:\/\/seagrant.soest.hawaii.edu\/\"><abbr>UH<\/abbr> Sea Grant<\/a> as a Center of Excellence for Sustainable Aquaculture and received National Sea Grant funding for oyster farming in Hilo Bay.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8212;By Kelli Trifonovitch<\/em><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/video.php?href=https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/universityofhawaii\/videos\/10155475858513099\/&#038;show_text=0&#038;width=400\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" style=\"border:none;overflow:hidden\" scrolling=\"no\" allowTransparency=\"true\" allowFullScreen=\"true\" title=\"Facebook video player\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><abbr>UH<\/abbr> Hilo has the only four-year aquaculture program in the state and the only facility dedicated to aquaculture and coastal management education, research and outreach to the community and industry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":75704,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,12],"tags":[1246,267,73,14,438,56,603],"class_list":["post-75653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-news","category-video","tag-aquaculture","tag-pacific-aquaculture-and-coastal-resources-center","tag-sustainability","tag-uh-hilo","tag-uh-sea-grant","tag-video-2","tag-workforce-development","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/hilo-aquaculture-oysters.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75653"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75653\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124653,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75653\/revisions\/124653"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}