Visitors from land and sea gathered at Santa Barbara City College this week to learn how to guide students to ocean-based jobs and help shape the city’s “blue economy.”
The college hosted a symposium to talk about its plans to get students into that growing economy that includes fishing, construction and tourism.
Santa Monica College has already developed such a program, and Tricia Ramos, the dean of academic affairs, shared their progress with the Santa Barbara crowd.
“Santa Barbara is not Los Angeles,” Ramos said. “You’re going to have your own journey, and you’re going to have your own reasons for building out the blue economy — and you have strong evidence that there’s promise.”
She said the most important thing that colleges can do is help students obtain jobs with livable wages. She also stressed the importance of creating something that lasts for students.
The faculty from Santa Monica College explained how it built a program providing training in a short amount of time and helped students earn certifications. The goal was to provide training quickly and move students into their careers.
Their program is also designed for students to further their education while they work. It accommodates work schedules by allowing students to do the classes online or over a few weekends.
Peter Rupert, an economics professor at UC Santa Barbara and executive director of the Economic Forecast Project, talked about the benefits of a blue economy for a coastal city like Santa Barbara.
He highlighted marine construction, aquaculture, tourism and recreation as industries that could grow in the future. Not only could those areas grow, he said, but they could make up for parts of the Santa Barbara economy that have slowed in the past 15 years, such as the retail sector.
“The federal government and state government have signaled that this is an area that they really want to push,” Rupert told Noozhawk.
That means that there will be a need for infrastructure and federal grants to support those projects, he added.
One such project he noted is the oil and gas facility Platform Holly. The platform is being decommissioned by the California State Lands Commission, and parts of the structure most likely will be removed in the future.
The economic value of decommissioning Platform Holly could bring in $1.5 billion, according to Rupert’s projections. Additionally, it could generate an estimated 1,385 jobs over 10 years.
Another area of potential expansion is aquaculture, the practice of raising and harvesting marine life. The Santa Barbara County coast has been identified as one of four locations for the future of aquaculture in the United States, Rupert said.
Although he noted that colleges need to prepare students for those new jobs, he added that there is a need to move slowly to understand the impact that the sector will have on the environment.
“The flip side of it is that … any time you pull one lever somewhere, something else happens,” Rupert said. “So, I think we have to go at this fairly slowly to understand what it’s going to mean.”
The event was capped off by a group of professors, business people and residents who are involved in ocean-related industries. During their comments, they expressed their support for SBCC’s initiative and what they hope to see for the program.
Michelle Paddack, a marine biology professor and chair of the environmental studies program at SBCC, was among the speakers. She explained how every semester, a student tells her they have an interest in the ocean but have no interest in being a marine biologist.
She said she enjoys introducing those students to different jobs and programs on campus, such as the diving program, the fishermen at the farmers market, or even encouraging them to use art to teach people about the sea.
“What I am trying to do all the time is break down all these walls … of all of our departments and show every single talent and every passion that each person has can be part of this amazing solution and a vibrant life here in your own community,” Paddack said.
