Cedar Key School high school students studied with the adults on Wednesday, May 6, at the Kirkpatrick Lab in Cedar Key. The Harvester Educational Training Program is a two-hour training course established by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and sponsored by the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Services and Sea Grant specifically designed for watermen/women who harvest shellfish.*

Students Nick Kaim, Pete Stefani, and Joey Stewart are enrolled in Cedar Key School’s SALT (Sharks Aquaculture Life Training) program, a curriculum designed by Principal Josh Slemp with Sue Colson, UF IFAS Shellfish Expert Leslie Sturmer, and many other community members devoted to Cedar Key as a working waterfront.

Sitting with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and Cedar Key Police Department employees, Kaim, Stefani, and Stewart learned the lessons required for certification, recertification, or licensing harvesting shellfish in Florida waters.

*This required program allows Florida’s shellfish industry to meet National Shellfish Sanitation Program (NSSP) requirements for food safety training relating to shellfish harvest and post-harvest handling practices. The training is designed to help shellfish handlers minimize the growth of Vibrio bacteria and to reduce the risk of associated illnesses.  Excerpted from http://myfwc.com/Shellfish 

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