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NOAA Fisheries announces approximately $10 million available to support aquaculture or fisheries projects through the 2017 Saltonstall-Kennedy Grant competition.

Eligible applicants include a citizen or national of the United States; an entity that is a corporation, partnership, association, or other non-Federal entity, non-profit or otherwise (including Indian tribes), if such entity is a citizen of the United States; or a citizen of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Republic of Palau, or the Federated States of Micronesia. Project proposals requesting less than $25,000 or greater than $300,000 in federal funding, in total, will not be accepted or reviewed. The number of awards made as a result of this solicitation will depend on the number of eligible applications received, the amount of funds requested for each project, the merit and ranking of the proposals, and the amount of funds made available to the S-K Program. The solicitation for proposals opens on Grants.gov on July 22, 2016, and will close on December 9, 2016. New for this solicitation is the requirement to submit a pre-proposal in advance of a full proposal submission. The pre-proposal process is intended to provide an indication to potential applicants of the technical merit and the relevancy of the proposed project to the SK program before preparing a full proposal.

Applications must address one of the seven priorities program priorities. These priorities are aimed at rebuilding fish stocks, maintaining and restoring healthy ocean and coastal ecosystems, and promoting the economic vitality of fishery working waterfront communities, for the long term benefit of the public and future generations. The program priority for marine aquaculture is:

Develop environmentally responsible marine aquaculture to create jobs in coastal communities, produce healthful local seafood, revitalize working waterfronts, and support traditional fishing communities. Projects should include, where feasible, participation of the fishing communities, aquaculture communities, and the seafood industry. Projects that provide training for fishermen and others in coastal communities in aquaculture production methods are encouraged.

Projects sought should address at least one of the two topics below:

Technology development and transfer: Develop, refine, or apply aquaculture technologies that support aquaculture development. Projects that demonstrate aquaculture technologies in operational settings such as through a pilot or commercial-scale project are strongly encouraged.

Tools for management: Provide tools to improve the understanding of the environmental effects of aquaculture that will facilitate informed permit and management decision-making.

Project examples could include but are not limited to:

• Demonstration of the feasibility of culturing marine species identified as potential or suitable candidates for aquaculture including fish, molluscs, and macroalgae;
• Development of hatchery capacity and technologies;
• Investigation of ways to minimize negative interactions and maximize positive interactions with living marine resources, especially protected and federally managed species and their habitats; and
• Development or validation of genetics/escapes, disease transfer, habitat equivalency, siting, socio-economic, or other models or tools for management of marine aquaculture.

Pre-proposals for the 2017 SK solicitation are due on September 20, 2016.  The complete announcement and application instructions can be accessed at: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/mb/financial_services/skhome.htm.