For five generations, Abbygael Whitehead’s family has run JanaLou’s Seafood in Horseshoe Beach, Fla. The restaurant has been a staple, locally owned business for many years and serves customers a variety of fish, shrimp, homemade sausage and dip.
Maintaining Tradition as a Fifth-Generation Aquaculturist
Whitehead is a proud member of the Dixie FFA Chapter. She has helped with her family’s seafood business since she was little, and it eventually turned into her Supervised Agricultural Experience when she joined FFA.
Her current responsibilities include making sales, maintaining business records, cleaning the facility, sorting crabs, monitoring the crab vats, repairing crab traps and nets and going on her family’s boat to catch their products. These responsibilities help prepare Whitehead to take over the seafood business fully one day.
Additionally, Whitehead visits local elementary schools and festivals to teach people about aquaculture. For example, she demonstrates how to identify the gender of crabs properly.
The FFA Journey
Whitehead continues to grow her love for aquaculture and agriculture as an FFA member. Since starting her SAE in 2019, Whitehead won multiple state awards for her project. It also led her to become a national finalist for her agriscience research fair project about how temperature affects the rate at which soft-shell crabs shed their shells.
Currently, Whitehead also advocates for FFA with her TikTok and Instagram pages, hoping to inspire new and current members to continue their journey in the blue jacket. Her passion for aquaculture runs deep and continues to grow, and her SAE teaches her valuable skills that will benefit her for years to come.
American Aquaculture
JanaLou’s Seafood is a prime example of a local aquaculture business in America. Aquaculture is one of Florida’s top agricultural commodities. The industry accounts for much of Florida’s economic agricultural market, and the state produces $100 million in aquaculture-related sales annually. Furthermore, the aquaculture industry also benefits America by creating jobs, contributing millions of dollars annually to the economy and cleaning waterways.
Through FFA, you can also get involved in aquaculture by participating in the agriscience research fair, as Whitehead did, or by competing in the Aquaculture Career Development Event if your state offers it.
