Applied Shellfish Farming course offered at RWU

December 22, 2015, BRISTOL – Roger Williams University’s Center for Economic and Environmental Development is offering a course on Applied Shellfish Farming that instructs both students and established aquaculturists in the ways of growing shellfish in Rhode Island. And thanks to funding secured by the R.I. Coastal Resources Management Council, University of Rhode Island Coastal Resources Center and RI Sea Grant, it will soon be available online.
The course – taught for nearly 20 years by Dale Leavitt, RWU’s aquaculture extension specialist and associate biology professor – runs for three months, but in 2016 will be designed also as an online course, available to a wider audience, in 2017. CRMC considers the course an unofficial requirement for prospective shellfish farmers. Aspects of the course are also required for individuals wishing to apply for a recreational aquaculture permit in Rhode Island (the classes with an asterisk).
According to Leavitt, the course’s 2016 run will be a “recon year,” with CRMC, CRC and other staff sitting in, discussing how best to distill the technical information into this hybrid form, for the following year. Filming will take place at different times during 2016 as well.
“We’re going to put some of the major technical components online, and we’re also teaching some aquaculture extension specialists so they have a good background in the material,” Leavitt said. The idea is that the course will continue in perpetuity, long after he’s retired, he said. Leavitt said he also hopes other states will at some point be able to utilize the information offered in the online course. States including Maine, New York and Delaware have already expressed interest.

Leavitt’s course is generally considered to be must-have training for all those wishing to enter into the aquaculture industry, as well as valuable information for those already with businesses, and the CRMC recommends the course to all applicants. Topics include an overview of shellfish farming, site selection and the permitting process, securing and working a lease according to the state’s coastal program, best practices and risk management, shellfish biology, an overview of shellfish nursery and grow-out systems, business information and other technical assistance.

With more than 20 years of knowledge, Leavitt had a wealth to pull from in designing his course. “I’ve been on a whole bunch of farms – real successes and abysmal failures – so it’s that knowledge I’ve tried to convey in order for these farms to be successful.”

The other component to this project – which was made possible by funding secured by the CRMC from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and their National Sea Grant program (RI Sea Grant) – is aimed to bring government, industry and community interests together to discuss the benefits and concerns that become part of the dialog in communities where aquaculture exists.

A series of stakeholder lectures are planned for Spring 2016, including talks from experts and others on the coastal ponds and their relationship to the aquaculture industry, as well as field trips to local farms and shellfish nurseries.

The project falls under the auspices of the Rhode Island Shellfish Management Plan, developed beginning in 2013 by the URI CRC and RI Sea Grant for the CRMC and Department of Environmental Management. The plan provides policies and guidance for the management, protection, restoration and economic enhancement of the state’s shellfish resources and industry.

For more information on the recreational aquaculture permit, contact Dale Leavitt at dleavitt@rwu.edu. For more information about the course and the filming, please go to the Rhode Island Shellfish Management Plan page: http://www.shellfishri.com/outreach-education/