Brackish Business: Aquaculture, Run as a Business

The curriculum

19 modules, 50+ contact hours, each one paired with real work you can put in front of a lender, a landlord, or a regulator.

1. 

   Module 01 · 3 hrs

   Business Types and Site Selection

   How farm models (shellfish, finfish, seaweed, land based recirculating) drive the site you need, and how site constraints quietly decide the business model for you.

   → Activity 1: Site scoring matrix

2. 

   Module 02 · 3 hrs

   Permitting and Leasing

   The federal, state, and local permit path in plain order, who signs what, and where applications actually stall.

   → Activity 2: Permit path map

3. 

   Module 03 · 3 hrs

   Infrastructure Development and Production Planning

   Gear, buildout sequence, stocking and harvest cycles, and building a production calendar that survives contact with weather.

   → Activity 3: Production calendar

4. 

   Module 04 · 3 hrs

   Safety and Standards: OSHA, FDA, and Best Practices

   Worker safety obligations, food safety controls, sanitation, recordkeeping, and what an inspection day looks like.

   → Quiz 1 plus safety brief drafting

5. 

   Module 05 · 3 hrs

   Social License to Operate

   What social license is, how it is earned, how it is lost, and what it costs to rebuild.

   → Activity 4: Community engagement plan

6. 

   Module 06 · 3 hrs

   Stakeholder Mapping and Engagement

   Work out who cares, who holds real power, and who is simply loud, then decide who to talk to first.

   → Activity 5: Stakeholder map

7. 

   Module 07 · 3 hrs

   Negotiation: Making a Case People Can Hear

   How to hear what is underneath an objection, choose useful evidence, plan what you can offer, and write a calm response on your own.

   → Project 2: Individual social license response plan

8. 

   Module 08 · 3 hrs

   Sustainability, Environmental Impacts, and Coastal Resilience

   Real impact categories, monitoring you can afford, certification pathways, and planning for a coastline that is changing.

   → Quiz 2 plus monitoring plan draft

9. 

   Module 09 · 3 hrs

   Product Development, Industry Branding, and Messaging

   Product form, grading, story, naming, and the messaging that survives a skeptical buyer.

   → Activity 6: Product and messaging sheet

10. 

    Module 10 · 3 hrs

    Sales and Marketing

    Channels from dock sales to distribution, pricing conversations, terms, and building a pipeline that is not one restaurant.

    → Activity 7: Pitch to a buyer

11. 

    Module 11 · 3 hrs

    Financial Planning and Budgeting

    Operating budgets, cash flow timing, break even, and the workbook that carries into the capstone.

    → Budget and pricing workbook

12. 

    Module 12 · 3 hrs

    Business Entity Types and Funding Resources

    Sole proprietor through cooperative and LLC, liability, taxes, and the grant and lending landscape that funds coastal operations.

    → Capstone business plan, part one

13. 

    Module 13 · 3 hrs

    Cost of Production Modeling

    Building a unit cost model from inputs, labor, mortality, and overhead, then stress testing it.

    → Unit cost workbook

14. 

    Module 14 · 2 hrs

    Permitting Economics

    Turning the permit map from module 2 into a funded, scheduled line item with contingency.

    → Permit cost and schedule sheet

15. 

    Module 15 · 2 hrs

    Capital and Grant Pathways

    Grant programs, working capital, equipment finance, and matching the money to the stage.

    → Funding stack worksheet

16. 

    Module 16 · 2 hrs

    Markets and Buyers

    Market structure, buyer types, seasonality, contracts, and payment behavior.

    → Buyer research brief

17. 

    Module 17 · 2 hrs

    Risk and Insurance

    Risk register, mitigation, coverage types, and what is genuinely uninsurable.

    → Risk register

18. 

    Module 18 · 2 hrs

    Labor and Hiring

    Roles, wages, classification, training, scheduling around tides, and retention on a small crew.

    → Hiring packet draft

19. 

    Module 19 · 2 hrs

    Record Keeping

    Production, sales, compliance, and financial records, and the system that keeps them without a full time admin.

    → Capstone business plan, final assembly