NOAA Marine Aquaculture Program

The summary for the NOAA Marine Aquaculture Program grant is detailed below. This summary states who is eligible for the grant, how much grant money will be awarded, current and past deadlines, Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) numbers, and a sampling of similar government grants. Verify the accuracy of the data FederalGrants.com provides by visiting the webpage noted in the Link to Full Announcement section or by contacting the appropriate person listed as the Grant Announcement Contact. If any section is incomplete, please visit the website for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is the U.S. government agency offering this grant.

NOAA Marine Aquaculture Program: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is seeking preliminary proposals and full proposals for demonstration projects and innovative research for the development of environmentally and economically sustainable marine aquaculture in nearshore, open water, and terrestrial environments. The Great Lakes are considered marine for this competition. Priorities include: (1) site specific commercial/pilot scale demonstration projects to establish technical and economic feasibility with special emphasis on hatchery development, land based, near shore and offshore production systems; (2)studies to assess environmental impacts of current marine aquaculture production systems and species including fish and shellfish; (3) nutrition research involving alternative protein based diets and influence of diet on product quality; (4) development of environmental models and GIS tools to aid site selection for new facilities; (5) disease diagnostics and control; (6) development of technical, hands-on training programs in marine hatchery operations and management; and (7) development of synthesis research papers (i.e., executive summary and journal publication) for the following topics: a) environmental impacts of marine production systems; b) alternative protein feeds and potential impacts; and c) disease transmission from aquaculture to wild stocks and vice versa, and status of ecologically acceptable treatments and preventives; and genetic technologies and environmental risk analysis. Projects funded under this competition should support NOAA's overall goals for its marine aquaculture program, which are to: 1) Establish a comprehensive regulatory program for the conduct of marine aquaculture operations; 2) Develop appropriate technologies to support commercial marine aquaculture and enhancement of wild stocks; 3) Establish and implement procedures for the environmental assessment and monitoring of marine aquaculture activities; 4) Conduct education and outreach activities to establish a well informed public on marine aquaculture; and 5) Meet international obligations to promote environmentally sustainable practices for the conduct of marine aquaculture. Accomplishment of these goals should lead to a well-managed marine aquaculture industry in the United States; a well informed public that understands U.S. aquaculture issues, and improved access to the latest aquaculture research results. NOAA will hold an open competition for up to $8 million for FY 2008 and FY 2009, with individual projects up to $1,000,000 for a two year period. It is anticipated that we will make approximately twenty awards, three or four pilot scale demonstration projects at the $1,000,000 level for the two year period and the remainder at or about the $200,000 level. In addition, funding for the synthesis research summaries (priority #7 in Program Priorities section) is anticipated to be up to $50,000 with four awards being made. Some funds in FY 2008 may be used to finish out projects started in FY 2007. We intend to fund projects for the full two year project period (08 and 09) using FY 2008 funds. In addition we will use some of FY 2009 funds to start other two year projects identified through this FY-2008 competition. It is not anticipated that a competition will be held in 2009. We reserve the option to use some FY 2010 funds to finish projects started in FY 2009. Only exceptional projects with multiple partners providing significant impact towards the previously mentioned goals will be considered for the higher level of funding. Projects involving industry collaboration and specific resource leveraging are encouraged and will be given higher rank and consideration.