(BIVN) – The University of Hawaiʻi distributed a news release showcasing its aquaculture program on March 4, 2018.

UH-Hilo’s Pacific Aquaculture & Coastal Resources Center, located on nine-acres in Keaukaha, is the only four-year aquaculture program in the State of Hawaiʻi.

Students get hands-on experience in aquaponics and raising ornamental and food fish, shellfish and algae.

The center’s work is gaining national recognition. It is a partner with UH Sea Grant as a Center of Excellence for Sustainable Aquaculture, and has received National Sea Grant funding for oyster farming in Hilo Bay.

“We’ve had at least 400 paid students,” said Maria Haws, director, Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resources Center. “We have interns and volunteers and research students. They’ve 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.”

“I get to do a lot of hands on with fish and fish rearing systems so I get that hands-on knowledge that I wouldn’t get if I was just sitting in a classroom, so I feel like I’m learning a lot more this way,” said Orion Friels, UH Hilo.

“It’s a good way of critical thinking and being creative pretty much. And it sets students up for the future in the real world,” said laboratory manager and UH Hilo graduate Hope Helg.