FY25 Ruth D. Gates Coral Reef Conservation Grants - Fishery Management Council Cooperative Agreements | NOAA NMFS OHC 2025 29484

Opportunity Information: Apply for NOAA NMFS OHC 2025 29484

The FY25 Ruth D. Gates Coral Reef Conservation Grants - Fishery Management Council Cooperative Agreements (FMCCA) opportunity is a NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Grant Program funding solicitation designed specifically for the Regional Fishery Management Councils to carry out practical projects that conserve and improve management of coral reef fisheries. The program is authorized under the Coral Reef Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 6410) and is positioned as a targeted investment in the sustainability of shallow coral reef fisheries and the essential fish habitat that supports them. Funding is provided through a cooperative agreement, meaning NOAA is expected to have an active partnership role during the project period rather than acting only as a pass-through funder.

Projects proposed under this opportunity must align with one or more of three core purposes. First, NOAA is looking for work that improves compliance with coral reef fisheries laws and with essential fish habitat (EFH) designations, which can include efforts that make regulations clearer, strengthen monitoring or outreach tied to compliance, or improve how EFH measures are understood and followed. Second, the solicitation prioritizes projects that generate or synthesize better scientific information to strengthen management decisions for shallow coral reef fisheries and their associated EFH; this can involve data collection, analyses that fill known information gaps, or approaches that make existing science more usable in a management context. Third, the opportunity supports advancing ecosystem-based fisheries management by applying existing datasets and fisheries management tools, emphasizing applied, decision-relevant work that connects fisheries management with broader reef ecosystem conditions.

Awards selected through this solicitation are expected to be implemented over a one-year period. Because this is a cooperative agreement, NOAA will collaborate with recipients to help identify high-value projects, strengthen project development and implementation, and support coordination with federal, state, territorial, or commonwealth management entities as well as different coral reef user groups. In other words, the program is built to encourage coordinated management outcomes rather than isolated research products.

For FY 2025, NOAA expects approximately 1,000,000 total to be available for FMCCA funding. Individual awards are anticipated to fall in the 125,000 to 300,000 range, and NOAA indicates it will not accept proposals requesting more than 350,000 in federal funds. The opportunity is listed as a discretionary funding action under CFDA 11.441, with the funding instrument type identified as a cooperative agreement and the activity area spanning environment, natural resources, and science and technology/research and development.

Eligibility is narrowly limited to four Regional Fishery Management Councils: the Caribbean Fishery Management Council, the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, and the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council. The application deadline listed is February 25, 2025. The opportunity is identified by Funding Opportunity Number NOAA NMFS OHC 2025 29484 and was created on December 27, 2024.

The solicitation also draws firm boundaries around NOAA staff involvement in proposal preparation. NOAA employees are not allowed to help write or prepare applications, and letters of support from NOAA employees are explicitly not allowed and will not be considered by merit reviewers. At the same time, NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program staff can provide general information about program goals, objectives, ongoing efforts, and regional funding priorities. If a proposal involves collaboration with existing NOAA projects or staff, NOAA employees may provide a limited written statement confirming the nature and extent of the collaboration and that coordination has already occurred, but this is not treated as a support letter and is constrained to verification of coordination rather than endorsement.

• The DOC NOAA - ERA Production in the environment, natural resources, science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "FY25 Ruth D. Gates Coral Reef Conservation Grants - Fishery Management Council Cooperative Agreements" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 11.441.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-12-27.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2025-02-25. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $300,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

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