Portfolio II: Applications of Technology

Managing For Success

The aim of aquaculture and new technologies research is to "deliver" the potential application of findings to those constituent interests that can make the best use of them and in ways or formats that are most useful. For this reason, we have worked to ensure effective linkages among Sea Grant Extension Program (SGEP) specialists, researchers and Sea Grant Communications. In 1996, for example, four years after publication of The University of Maryland System Aquaculture Plan, SGEP organized a university-wide workshop of scientists and extension specialists to update current research and assess new directions. SGEP faculty are currently working with the Sea Grant director to organize a university-wide "Aquaculture Workshop and Institutional Summit" that has the goal of reassessing the university strategy for developing aquaculture activities and linking new initiatives to those detailed in the National Sea Grant Initiative, Marine Aquaculture: Economic Opportunities for the 21st Century.

With the increasing applications of molecular biology, we strengthened our outreach linkages with the University of Maryland Center of Marine Biotechnology (COMB). For example, our Finfish Specialist took on added responsibilities as a Biotechnology Specialist and developed cooperative programs with faculty at the Center of Marine Biotechnology (COMB). One such program, supported by a national biotechnology initiative, offered an intensive series of seminars for extension, education and communications specialists in the Sea Grant network. Over the last five years, we have further improved integration of SGEP specialists with university-wide research laboratories. Our SGEP Area Agent for Southern Maryland is now located at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, while our Water Quality Specialist is now at COMB. Both have initiated active water quality programs that have strong applicability to the rearing of fish in open waters. In another move to strengthen educational programs in urban areas and to enhance partnerships with researchers at COMB and the National Aquarium in Baltimore, we located our SGEP Education Specialist at COMB - he has been instrumental in catalyzing the development of innovative education programs highlighting environmental technologies at the K-12 and college level (see Sea Grant Educational Programs).

The Sea Grant Extension Program has established strong academic partnerships throughout the University System to leverage outreach efforts related to aquaculture and new technologies. For example, the University of Maryland Extension Fish and Wildlife specialist at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore is a regular contributor to Maryland Aquafarmer and has conducted seminars at the East Coast Commercial Fishermen's and Aquaculture Trade Show Expo, in which Mid-Atlantic Sea Grant specialists organize and teach seminars on issues of major concern to watermen and aquaculturists. We have also established strong relationships with regional Sea Grant programs and other agencies in diverse outreach programs. In 1997 Maryland SGEP hosted the National Aquaculture Extension Conference with support of the five Regional Aquaculture Centers, NOAA and the National Sea Grant College. In 1998, SGEP specialists worked closely with the Agriculture Experiment Station and were instrumental in organizing Striper 2000, Research Advances on Striped Bass and Its Hybrids, a meeting that brought scientists, industry leaders and growers together. Maryland and Delaware Sea Grant organized East Coast Live: The Business of Marketing Live Aquatic Products, a major conference held in Annapolis in November 2000. These examples are indicators of our continuing efforts to ensure linkages between university-based research and diverse stakeholders, including Extension Specialists as well.

These partnership go beyond the university and other Sea Grant Programs. For example, Maryland Sea Grant partnered with South Carroll High School, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, COMB and the Chesapeake Bay Trust in Aquaculture in Action, a unique program that trains middle school and high school educators in an intensive summer program on the use of recirculating systems for raising fish.

To support such programs, SGEP and Sea Grant communications have developed an integrated array of materials that range from newsletters such as Maryland Aquafarmer, Marine Notes and Maryland Schools Network News to a series of aquaculture workbooks (finfish, shellfish, soft crab shedding, pond management), videos and an extensive web presence, which includes interactive education modules.