National Seafood Month: Shellebrate with the AIE! – Aquaculture Information Exchange

While many people might be thinking about carving pumpkins and costume parties, folks in the aquaculture industry all over the nation are celebrating a different holiday: National Seafood Month.

National Seafood Month is the perfect time for the aquaculture community to sing the praises of seafood’s many benefits at local events and online. It’s an opportunity to educate seafood connoisseurs, first-timers, and even skeptics about how seafood is good for the environment, coastal economies, and human health.

I’d like to encourage AIE members to share how you are celebrating National Seafood Month and to amplify any resources you’ve found helpful when teaching seafood consumers.

Photos of a woman in a flannel shirt learning how to shuck an oyster using an oyster knife and rag to protect her hand.

I will go first! My first seafood month shellebration was an Oyster Roast hosted by the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences and Florida Sea Grant at First Magnitude, a local brewery. Folks from the Nature Coast Biological Station cooked up 1000 oysters in record time and gave them away to oyster afficionados, first-time oyster eaters, and brewery lovers. I got to table with some oyster games, answer questions about internships from interested undergrads, and teach new and old friends alike how to shuck an oyster (who quickly discovered it is much easier when they are roasted!).

This event, along with numerous seafood social media campaigns and projects continue to inspire me. Here are a few of the projects that have inspired me to find innovative ways to help improve aquaculture and seafood literacy:

Online Resources

Local Events

We would love to see how you are celebrating seafood month here on the AIE!