Hurricanes consistently threaten Florida fishing communities, dealing millions in damage annually. Despite this fact there exists limited a) understanding and communication of the short and long-term social and economic impacts of hurricanes and b) efforts to address these challenges. This project, led by Hugh Cipparone, a Fishery Finance and Policy Analyst for the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders' Alliance, aims to address the above-mentioned gap by undertaking two key initiatives. These are fishermen-led research on and communication around the social and economic impacts of hurricanes and a workshop improving record-keeping for fishermen to improve the receipt and targeting of disaster relief in the hurricane’s wake.

This research project, led by Meredith Pratt, a PhD student in Integrative and Conservation Biology at the University of Central Florida, aims to understand the potential consequences of rising sea surface temperatures on coastal fish communities and fisheries. Using multi-decadal fisheries and environmental data, the study will examine the latitudinal range shifts of marine fishes and investigate the potential drivers behind these shifts over time. The findings from this research will have practical implications, informing the design of conservation and management strategies that promote the sustainability of coastal ecosystems, and increasing our understanding of the effects of climate change on coastal fish communities.

Nicky Roberts—a subject matter expert in seafood supply chains and climate resilience, in collaboration with the nonprofit Eating with the Ecosystem—is developing an industry action plan to foster climate-resilient seafood supply chains in New England. Their previous collaboration yielded the forthcoming publication Climate Winners: Adapting to Species Shifts in New England, which entailed meeting with 30 seafood suppliers of all shapes and sizes to understand their willingness to incorporate some of those winners species into their chain, with the end goal to create recommendations for policymakers. What they uncovered is a 'knowledge to action gap' with preparing for resilience, in part due to fisher's distrust of industry resource managers and lack of perceived demand coming from consumers. Nicky plans to leverage this publication into a larger "action plan" for the New England seafood supply chain, that will be informed by and shared with industry partners and stakeholders through collaborative sessions and panel discussions virtually and at important industry gatherings.

Driven by the devastation caused by purple urchins, which have destroyed 95% of California's kelp forests in the last 5 years, Max Diamond, an environmentally conscious chef with Michelin star restaurant training, founded Salty Gold Uni to achieve "restorative consumption." Max aims to innovate seafood consumption and production by introducing sea urchin (uni) butter, focusing on the overabundant and underutilized purple sea urchin. Uni butter is created from blending the harvest from multiple urchins and can upcycle smaller urchins deemed unfit for the market, meaning that the removal of urchins can be less discriminatory and more efficient, maximizing the environmental impact of kelp forest restoration. With previous support from SOA in launching his product, Max is now focused on entering the local retail market and scaling; through the fellowship he hopes to continue to form new partnerships in the climate-resilient fisheries ecosystem and hone in on quantifying and communicating environmental impact.

In the last decade, climate change-induced stressors and disease has had a detrimental impact on California (CA) kelp forests. In northern CA, over 90% of kelp forests have been impacted and in the Monterey-Carmel Peninsula area, over 70% of kelp forests have been impacted. As kelp is NOAA-designated Essential Fish Habitat and a state-managed fishery, its restoration is critical. While the restoration literature highlights the crucial role of community involvement in effective ecological restoration, there remains limited understanding on how to effectively leverage community involvement and leadership. Ali Boutros - a Coastal Science & Policy Masters Student at UC Santa Cruz - will address this knowledge gap by performing a comparative case study of two community-led kelp restoration efforts in CA. She will synthesize important elements and lessons learned from these efforts. Her findings will provide valuable insights that will inform the development of California's Kelp Restoration & Management Plan, and complement existing and robust kelp restoration initiatives at The Nature Conservancy.

Katharine Shambaugh, an Environmental Sustainability Masters student specializing in Behavior and Communication, is undertaking a study to explore the responses of local communities in Maine to changing fishing practices and the introduction of aquaculture. Maine is the perfect place to examine the impact of climate change due to its dependence on fishing and Maine's gulf warming at a rate faster than 97% of the Earth's oceans. There has been a drastic shift in marine life and generational fishing communities are being impacted, and aquaculture presents a potential alternative livelihood that is more environmentally and economically sustainable. However, the Gulf of Maine Research Institute has identified varied reactions towards incoming aquaculture across Maine's fishers, but the reasons for these differences are not fully understood. Katharine plans to conduct interviews and surveys in fishing communities in north, central, and southern Maine to gather their perspectives on the introduction of kelp and shellfish aquaculture to uncover some of the reasons for regional disparities and how they might be addressed.

Vieques, an island municipality of Puerto Rico, is facing numerous challenges including overfishing, habitat degradation, and military pollution. These threats have limited the productivity of essential fish habitats, which are essential for small-scale, coastal fisheries. To address these limitations and improve the sustainability of local fisheries, Abdiel Connelly Boulogne founded SAMAR, a grassroots sustainable fisherfolk led educational project. SAMAR seeks to promote sustainable fishing practices in harmony with nature, while also supporting food sovereignty and environmental justice, to implement practices that will make healthy foods accessible to the Vieques community. Through this project, SAMAR will develop and implement a sustainable fishing education program that incorporates climate change adaptations specifically designed for the realities of Vieques youth. The program will be taught to 6 youth islanders, who in turn will help impact 15 additional islanders during a hands-on summer camp.

Founded by Aaron Huang, OoNee is a regenerative vertical sea ranch that addresses the damaging impact of urchin barrens on kelp forests along California's coastline. OoNee strives to create opportunities for individuals from underserved and underprivileged communities to engage in meaningful work related to the development of climate-resilient enterprises. As part of this project, struggling fishers from the community will be identified and trained in scuba diving, reef surveying, urchin harvesting, and urchin processing.

SOA Costa Rica Hub aims to serve as a collaborative platform for young conservationists, professionals, and community leaders working on conservation and environmental projects. They will run a campaign to build awareness on the biodiversity and importance of the deep sea that will include film screenings, photo exhibitions, and artwork from artists that participated in deep-sea research expeditions. They will also help five youth implement their own ocean preservation & restoration events in different Costa Rican coastal communities. This project is being led by Marilyn Valverde, who is the founder of Mar y Comercio, an organization dedicated to marine conservation by accelerating the economic development of coastal communities.