NOAA Grants

This announcement supports Executive Order 14276, Restoring America’s Seafood Competitiveness, by soliciting projects that support: workforce development for marine-related professions in marine science, aquaculture/mariculture, and maritime operations; enhancing seafood safety and management through training in seafood best practices, marketing, and fishery management; technological innovation in fishing practices; outreach and education for consumers on quality and sustainability of wild caught fish or products farmed through aquaculture/mariculture; enhanced regionally-specific management of fishery resources based on local knowledge; and strengthening the seafood supply chain through partnerships with industry, researchers, and community organizations to build relationships that increase the sustainability and competitiveness of the marine community in Alaska. Proposed projects must be conducted in Alaska.

This grant program provides competitive grants to non-Federal researchers working to benefit U.S. fishermen and fisheries, including aquaculture, through the development of improved fishing practices and innovative gear technologies. The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, as amended (MSA), 16 U.S.C. 1865, requires that NOAA’s conservation and management measures minimize bycatch to the extent practicable and established the Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program (BREP) to support the development of technological devices and other conservation engineering changes to minimize bycatch and reduce post-release mortality of non-target species in our nation’s fisheries. Bycatch reduction is a priority for the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), as outlined in the NMFS National Bycatch Reduction Strategy (https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/bycatch/national-bycatchreduction-strategy). Fisheries bycatch can contribute to overfishing, population declines for threatened and endangered species, and can result in commercial fishery closures. This Program seeks to support the development and testing of fishing gears and approaches that can be applied in commercial and recreational fisheries to reduce bycatch and post-release mortality and address the MSA requirements to minimize bycatch and habitat impacts.

The objective of the program is to provide a basis for advancing science-based fisheries management for Atlantic bluefin tuna. Such advancement will depend upon improvements in understanding of the fisheries, total abundance, and biology of bluefin tuna, especially regarding the effects of mixing and movement between the eastern and western Atlantic populations. Contracting Parties to the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), of which the US is one, and other partners have embarked upon a multi-year research program on bluefin tuna as a step toward improving ICCAT's science-based management of Bluefin fisheries. Research sponsored under this funding opportunity represents a contribution to this partnership. Proposals that demonstrate collaborations with the ICCAT Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Research Program and other ICCAT partners are strongly encouraged.

The principal objective of the Damage Assessment, Remediation and Restoration Program (DARRP) Restoration Implementation Grants is for NOAA to collaborate with non-federal partners to implement marine and coastal habitat restoration and conservation in order to accomplish common goals related to oil spills, hazardous substance releases, and other natural resource damages. Successful applicants will support and implement restoration activities authorized under the Oil Pollution Act, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, Clean Water Act, National Marine Sanctuaries Act, and other federal agencies' authorities related to oil spills, hazardous substance releases, and natural resource damages, such as the RESTORE Act. Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) will be for those capable of implementing restoration and conservation activities across a wide geographic scale. NOAA NOFO Page 2 of 26 Restoration activities may include actions that rebuild productive and sustainable fisheries; contribute to the recovery and conservation of threatened and endangered species; and improve economic vitality, including local employment. Recipients will be implementing activities identified in consent decrees or natural resource damage assessment and restoration plans, and may be developing or soliciting projects to meet restoration goals. This may include recipients reviewing restoration plans and: collaborating with the trustee to select activities to be contracted or sub-awarded by the recipient; collaborating with the trustee to select projects for which the recipient has direct implementation responsibility; competition management to sub- award projects; and implementing pre- and post-restoration project evaluation and monitoring. Projects may also include restoration planning and technique development activities that further the mutual interests of DARRP and of funding recipient partners, such as environmental compliance analyses or restoration planning for potential, future incidents.

The Earth System Science and Services Partnership (ESSSP) supports research, programs, projects and other activities related to NOAA's mission, primarily through collaborations among scientists and professionals in areas of mutual interest associated with understanding and predicting changes in the Earth's atmosphere, oceans, coasts, land, and ice and their interrelated effects on ecosystems, weather and hazards, and communities and infrastructure. Areas for collaborative efforts under this agreement include research and analysis; observations and monitoring; data impact evaluations; numerical modeling; and service development and stakeholder engagement. Eligible applicants must be academic institutions of higher learning which offer doctoral degrees in NOAA-related sciences; consortia of academic institutions of higher learning which offer doctoral degrees in NOAA-related sciences; or non-profit research institutions. Multi-institution applications will not be accepted. The total NOAA funding amount available for the ESSSP is anticipated to be approximately $10,000,000. This announcement provides requirements and details for the technical program, evaluation criteria, and competitive selection procedures.

NOAA/National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program (MMHSRP) is authorized under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) to facilitate collecting and disseminating reference data on stranded marine mammals (cetaceans and pinnipeds, excluding walrus) and the health trends of marine mammal populations in the wild. The John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance Grant Program is administered by NMFS to provide federal assistance to eligible members of the U.S. National Marine Mammal Stranding Network, the U.S. National Entanglement Response Network, and their collaborators to provide for: (A) the recovery, care, or treatment of sick, injured, or entangled marine mammals; (B) responses to marine mammal stranding events that require emergency assistance; (C) the collection of data and samples from living or dead stranded marine mammals for scientific research or assessments regarding marine mammal health; (D) facility operating costs that are directly related to activities described in (A), (B), or (C); and (E) development of stranding network capacity, including training for emergency response, where facilities do not exist or are sparse. This document describes how to submit proposals for funding under this competition and how NMFS will review and determine which proposals are selected for funding.

The purpose of this document is to advise the public that NOAA/NOS/National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS)/Competitive Research Program (CRP) [formerly Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research (CSCOR)/Coastal Ocean Program (COP)], is soliciting proposals for projects that will support state-of-the-art information and products to advance the use of natural infrastructure for coastal flood protection through one or more of the following focal areas: public-private partnerships, innovative insurance products, or improved sediment management. This short-term investment supports research teams that include regional users to ensure practical, efficient, and cost-effective cross-sector implementation that advances long-term flood and storm preparedness capacity that is led by states and localities. Funding is contingent upon the availability of Federal appropriations. If funds are available for this program, one to six projects are expected to be supported for up to four years in duration, with an approximate annual budget for each project up to $500,000, not to exceed $2,000,000 per project. --- Electronic Access: Proposals should be submitted through Grants.gov. Sign up to receive any potential amendments to this Announcement via Grants.gov.

A description of NOAA Line and Staff Offices is found at https://www.noaa.gov/about/organization, and applicants may contact the Agency Contacts in Section VII. below for more information. If you submit the same application to more than one Line or Staff Office, mention this in your application and notify the relevant contacts in Section VII. so that NOAA may coordinate internally. This notice also solicits proposals that are part of the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) program. CESU is a U.S. federal partnership network that connects agencies with universities, tribes, nonprofits, and other partners to address natural and cultural resource challenges. Each CESU is structured as a working collaborative with participation from numerous federal and non-federal institutional partners. CESUs are based at host universities and focus on a particular bio-geographic region of the country.

This Broad Agency Announcement is a mechanism to encourage research, education, outreach, innovative projects, or sponsorships that are not addressed through NOAA’s competitive discretionary programs. This announcement is not soliciting goods or services for the direct benefit of NOAA. Funding for activities described in this notice is contingent upon the availability of appropriations in the fiscal years applicable to the application. Applicants are hereby given notice that funds have not yet been appropriated for any activities described in this notice. Publication of this announcement does not oblige NOAA to review an application beyond an initial administrative review, or to award any specific project, or to obligate any available funds. CESU projects fund applied environmental and cultural resource research, technical assistance, and education to support effective stewardship and decision-making for public lands and trust resources.