California Sea Grant Welcomes New Aquaculture Extension Specialist

Simona Augyte will build a new program expanding opportunities for Southern California aquaculture
Author
Boyce Upholt
Topics
Share

California Sea Grant is excited to welcome Dr. Simona Augyte as the new Aquaculture Extension Specialist. In this new role, based in the Biology Division at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, Augyte will build an extension program focused on Southern California aquaculture. Combining applied research and community outreach, the program seeks to develop aquaculture through workforce development training.

Augyte first encountered aquaculture as an undergraduate at Cal Poly Humboldt. “I was just awestruck by the ocean,” she says. A botany major, she was already interested in plants and agriculture, so the idea of farming the ocean appealed to her. “But it was just a daydream at that point,” she says.

Simona Augyte
Courtesy of Simona Augyte

For her master’s degree — also at Humboldt — Augyte studied the marine flora between Cape Mendocino and Cape Blanco, building on historical records to produce species lists for the region. During her doctoral and post-doctoral studies in ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Connecticut, she conducted research on kelp cultivation that bridged academic study and practical industry applications. Her work centered on domestication, exploring optimal growing conditions from laboratory to farm settings, and developing high-yielding cultivars through genetic research supported by the Department of Energy's MARINER program. For the past five years, she has been based in Hawaii, working with the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority, a state agency, to support companies growing or producing goods from seaweed, also known as macroalgae. “We have investigated many applications for macroalgae from cattle feed to human food to fish food and beyond,” she says.

On this career path Augyte often interacted with regional Sea Grant offices. At one point, she and a colleague applied for a grant from California Sea Grant to study a deep-water kelp, Laminaria farlowii, which grows in Southern California. They wanted to do outreach, so “we asked for funding to put on a little festival,” she says. Now, entering its sixth year, the California Seaweed Festival has become the largest such event in North America.

What drew her to the new position? “Spreading the good word about aquaculture backed by science,” she says, laughing. The position combines her professional passions: scientific research paired with outreach, all built around what is most useful for local communities and stakeholders.

Her first priority is building out an aquaculture facility at Scripps. “The hands-on portion of aquaculture is really important,” she says. “You have to just be out there, gluing PVC pipes and putting valves together and testing things to really get a sense of how it works.” She envisions the facility serving multiple purposes: providing practical training for students and interns while also creating opportunities for industry collaboration.

Done right, she notes, aquaculture can reduce pressures on freshwater supplies, supporting sustainable food production in California. “I’m excited to work with a great team,” she says, “and help build an aquaculture industry that can support sustainable communities.”