Paula Sylvia is the Director of the Aquaculture and Blue Technology Department at the Port of San Diego, a program that was created in 2015. She oversees a variety of planning and pre-development initiatives aimed at developing environmental and economic opportunities for aquaculture, blue technology, and other nature-based solution businesses in and around San Diego Bay. She also manages the Port’s Blue Economy Incubator, a platform to support entrepreneurship and innovation partnerships to facilitate and scale pilot projects and build a portfolio of nature-based solutions and new businesses that can deliver multiple social, environmental, and economic benefits to the region.
Before coming to the Port, Paula worked as a Research Biologist for NOAA-National Marine Fisheries Service, Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, California for 2.5 years. Prior to her NOAA position, she worked as the Offshore Aquaculture Program Manager at Hubbs SeaWorld Research Institute in San Diego, California for 13 years. In these roles, Paula was responsible for planning, permitting and implementing offshore aquaculture projects in the southern California region and northern Baja California, Mexico for fisheries replenishment, restoration and food production purposes.