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Registration is now open for the 2026 competition! To register, submit this Google Form by January 14, 2026.

The Aquaculture Challenge engages students in STEM learning, innovation, and career development by developing aquaponics systems and business plans.

The Aquaculture Challenge is a collaboration between the Great Lakes Sea Grant Network and Lake Superior State University (LSSU) and is co-chaired by Michigan Sea Grant. This science competition engages students in grades 6-12 from around the Midwest in a four-month venture to:

• Build and monitor aquaponics systems
• Create business plans
• Perform a community outreach project

How to participate

The Aquaculture Challenge is a competition open to teams of 6th-12th-grade students with an adult coach or captain. Teams can come from rural, urban, and suburban schools or homeschool groups in Michigan and the surrounding Great Lakes states. New and returning teams are welcome; Michigan Sea Grant staff provide start-up guidance and resources for coaches before the competition cycle begins each January.

Access the 2026 team manual (Google Doc)

The competition consists of 4 parts designed to engage students in a wide variety of hands-on STEM and humanities topics.

Teams will:

• Design and build an aquaponics system of any size.
• Monitor the system using chemical and physical monitoring. Bonus points are awarded for using automated monitoring systems.
• Create a business plan for the system or a scaled version of the system; the plan can follow a for-profit or nonprofit model.
• Perform a community outreach project promoting healthy seafood consumption.

The competition comes with support such as: $150 stipends, a virtual coach training and kick-off meeting, a team liaison assigned to meet virtually with each team throughout the season, and several electronic resources.

Teams work from January to April to design and engineer table-top aquaponics systems. They spend the competition window monitoring and automating the systems, crafting business plans, and creating seafood outreach projects. Staff from Sea Grant and faculty and students from Lake Superior State University provide guidance and mentorship to teams and coaches throughout the process.

The competition ends in late April, when teams submit their accomplishments virtually using videos and PDFs to capture their hard work. A virtual awards ceremony takes place in April or early May, and winning teams receive trophies in the mail.

Registration is now open for the 2026 competition! To register, submit this Google Form by January 14, 2026.

Fill in this Google Form to join the Aquaculture Challenge email list and receive updates about this program and other K-12 aquaculture opportunities. For more information about the program, contact Michigan Sea Grant Extension Educator Elliot Nelson at elliotne@msu.edu or 906-322-0353.