Eastern Maine Skippers Program (EMSP) is a program currently implemented in nine high schools that serve fishing communities across 200 miles of coastal eastern Maine. The program’s focus is on providing students with the core knowledge and skills needed to participate in coastal fisheries. EMSP provides a platform for students to explore and create opportunities to sustain the fishing communities they live in by running successful and adaptable businesses within those communities. A central feature of EMSP is an intensive group, or individual project in which the students work collaboratively with community fishermen, scientists, regulators and related businesses to investigate challenges within the fishing industry. They then research, develop and present effective solutions.