UAS Fisheries Technology program receives NSF grant to enhance aquaculture education in Alaska

The University of Alaska Southeast Fisheries Technology (Fish Tech) program just received word that NSF will be funding a project called Enhancing Aquaculture: Education for underserved Alaskan communities to promote workforce development in fisheries industries or just Enhancing Aquaculture.  The $567,326 grant will allow the Fish Tech program to hire a three-year term funded faculty member that will focus on teaching UAS courses in aquaculture and mariculture.  The main goal of the grant is to develop a semester-long aquaculture intensive that will be taught in Sitka, Alaska (http://salmonculturesemester.alaska.edu/).  Though Fish Tech will continue to offer distance courses, this semester intensive will primarily be hands-on with students taking courses in Alaska Salmon Culture, Field Safety, Vessel Operator, Outboard Maintenance, and more.  Some other unique aspects of this intensive include a 300-hour internship that will be performed at one of three local hatcheries, visits to at least one remote hatchery, and a job fair near the end of the semester so that students going through the program can make plans for working in the salmon enhancement industry the following summer.  For more information contact the Fish Tech Program Director Reid Brewer (rsbrewer@alaska.edu, or 907-747-7799)

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