HARVEST Internship Program

Partnering With Florida's Aquaculture Industry To Train The Next Generation of Workforce

In support of a growing Ocean Economy, Florida Sea Grant launched its HARVEST student internship program to foster the development of a burgeoning aquaculture industry and provide valuable real-world experience to students interested in aquaculture.

HARVEST, Helping Aquaculture Reap Value and Enhance Student Training, is an internship program that offers university students paid part-time internships (up to 20 hours per week) with partnering aquaculture businesses in Florida. Students are provided with valuable workforce development skills to solve ‘real-world’ problems that impede the productivity of aquaculture businesses. During their internship, students aid in a variety of needs denoted by the aquaculture business such as efforts to increase survivability, productivity, efficiency, sustainability, public outreach, and education. The duties of each internship include but are not limited to:

On the farm/hatchery work (animal husbandry, harvesting, processing, culling, data collection)
Outreach, communications and marketing
Equipment maintenance and engineering
Development/expansion of new culture methods
Research project assistance

Program Structure

Florida Sea Grant supports up five student-business internships per year. Florida Sea Grant extension agents and faculty partner with aquaculture business to co-mentor the HARVEST intern during their 2-9 month internship experience. Each HARVEST internship’s duties and projects are based on the needs of the aquaculture business partner.

What partners Are saying

"We thoroughly benefitted from having a part time intern to help with our oyster husbandry. Having a fresh set of eyes on the farm allowed us to see things that had been hiding in plain sight. With our renewed perspective, we were able to implement changes at our farm to help us grow a better product!”

"Our intern was able to increase productivity by doubling the amount of work we were able to complete on the farm and increased our ability to count and sort market oysters… Within the first three weeks, he’s helped us prepare the farm for a tropical storm and a hurricane… As a small new oyster farm, the opportunity that the Florida Sea Grant has given us…is invaluable.”

“[Our intern] is a blessing. Such a good, hardworking kid!”

Students Meet Industry

HARVEST
In Action

To date, twelve internships have been funded, integrating interns into a variety of aspects of each aquaculture business. HARVEST internship experiences have led to direct expansion of the aquaculture business and have influenced students’ career choices.

Owen SilveraFlorida Atlantic UniversityTreasure Coast Shellfish — **Owen Silvera**
Florida Atlantic University
Treasure Coast Shellfish

Hayley LemoineFlorida State UniversityOcean Era — **Hayley Lemoine**
Florida State University
Ocean Era

Yates CarrierFlorida Institute of TechnologyIndian River Oyster Co. — **Yates Carrier**
Florida Institute of Technology
Indian River Oyster Co.

Alex BellUniversity of FloridaClamtastic Seafood — **Alex Bell**
University of Florida
Clamtastic Seafood

Tucker ReynoldsUniversity of West FloridaGrayson Bay Oyster Co. — **Tucker Reynolds**
University of West Florida
Grayson Bay Oyster Co.

Keanu StammelUniversity of MiamiTwo Docks Shellfish — **Keanu Stammel**
University of Miami
Two Docks Shellfish

Aaron SharrettUniversity of South FloridaLost Coast Oyster Co. — **Aaron Sharrett**
University of South Florida
Lost Coast Oyster Co.

Former Intern

Hayley
Lemoine

Ph.D. Candidate,
Rasster Lab,
Florida State University

While my internship is wrapping up, my work on offshore aquaculture will likely continue, thanks in large part to the wonderful experience I had during this internship learning about and contributing to our understanding of offshore aquaculture in the United States.

Former Intern

Hayley Lemoine

Ph.D. Candidate, Rasster Lab,
Florida State University

supporting aquaculture

Businesses
Across the State

Interested in working with a HARVEST intern? Check out the places our interns have worked below to learn more. Since the program launched in 2020, 20 companies have partnered with 16 interns from 7 institutions to help support the state’s growing ocean economy and launch students into successful careers in aquaculture.