Student Successes

Juan worked at PACRC from April 2013 to April 2015. The first year he worked as a fish hatchery technician, and the second year an oyster hatchery technician. Juan's time at PACRC not only involved learning aquatic animal husbandry, it also was an introduction to a community of science based students that inspired each other to learn from mistakes, keep pushing forward, and get together to eat some great food. Juan recalls that he made some lifelong friends at PACRC that he is eternally grateful for. Currently, Juan is working for Hog Island Oyster Company as a manager of an oyster hatchery located in Humboldt Bay, California.

Adam worked at PACRC from 2008 to 2014 as the aquaculture education specialist, where he assisted with public engagement by providing tours of the facilities and working with local school and community groups. He also worked on facility development and the maintenance and breeding of marine and freshwater fish and invertebrates. During his time at PACRC he received his Master's degree at UH Hilo in Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science, where he studied the biology of local octopus species. Currently, he is a Ph.D. student at the University of Southern Mississippi working on developing methods for the large scale culture of copepods at the Thad Cochran Marine Aquaculture Center.

Andrea started at PACRC June 2017 where her main duties included cleaning tanks and glassware/tools, feeding fish, counting copepods and algae cells, starting algae bags, making algae nutrients, inoculating algae flasks, harvesting and transferring copepods, counting fish eggs, hatching artemia, feeding copepods and artemia, and recording water quality. She started working at Panaewa (PACRC's sister freshwater facility) in December 2017 where she seeded plants, recorded plant transfers and deaths, recorded fish weights, trimmed runners, removed plants from canals, made soil medium, harvested and packaged fruit. After Andrea graduated, she started at Moana in Kona, Hawaiʻi in January 2019 as a maturation technician where she maintains harvested and culled shrimp. Additionally, she currently works as a biologist at Ocean Rider Seahorse Farm in Kona, Hawaiʻi and at Legacy Reef (coral farm). At Ocean Rider Seahorse Farm, Andrea cleans tanks and algae glassware, transfers seahorse fry and limu, gives three tours per day, and holds seahorses on tourists’ hands.

Scott is a graduate of University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo with a degree in Marine Biology. He started working at PACRC his freshman year as a volunteer in order to complete his Marine Option Program (MOP) project. It quickly led to a job taking care of food fish. Since then Scott has worked in almost every aspect of commercial and conservation aquaculture including oyster and food fish production, live feeds, marine ornamental care, and facility expansion. Additionally, Scott helped coordinate a coral propagation project in his free time. PACRC provided Scott with years of hands-on experience prior to graduation that led to a permanent aquaculture technician position at the facility. Scott emphasizes the importance of the field related work and camaraderie that experienced through PACRC.

Matthew worked at PACRC as an oyster hatchery technician from March 2014 until he graduated in December 2014. After graduation, he got a job at SIS Hawaii LLC in the research and development program, where he was grow-out manager for the Penaeus Monodon and Penaeus Stylirostris species. He currently works for the State of Hawaii Division of Aquatic Resources, which is a direct link between aquaculture and marine conservation. There, he breeds Hawaiian Collector Urchins and outplants them into Kaneohe Bay, where they eat the smothering, invasive seaweed. Almost all the skills that he utilizes today (larvae culture, microalgae culture, water quality assessment, PVC construction, etc.) were skills he learned at PACRC.

Marcellus is a graduate of University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo with a degree in agriculture and specialization in aquaculture. He started working at PACRC his sophomore year (2016) as a student bivalve technician working in the oyster hatchery. His junior year (2017), he started working as a student ornamental and live feeds technician while simultaneously working as a bivalve technician in the hatchery. During his senior year (2018),Marcellus assisted on the start ups of the native oyster project and limu project. He also spent time his senior year working at Panaewa where he worked on hydroponic and aquaponic systems and gained experience with freshwater food fish such as tilapia and sturgeon as well as many food crops. Currently he holds a full time hatchery technician position working on the coral reef fish and breeding project.