The objective of this program by the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) is to advance the scientific foundation for the conservation of cetaceans in the Pacific Islands Region.
Donor Name: Department of Commerce
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 05/12/2023
Size of the Grant: $1,050,000
Grant Duration: 3 years
Details:
Consisting of the Hawaiian Archipelago in the north, American Samoa and U.S. Pacific Remote Island Areas in the south, and the Marianas Archipelago in the west, the Pacific Islands region encompasses the largest geographical area within NOAA Fisheries’ jurisdiction. This region is home to diverse cultures, many protected species, and numerous valuable fisheries that support local and national economies. Research supported through this program will contribute to the assessment of whale and dolphin populations in the central and western Pacific Ocean, which requires an understanding of distribution, stock structure, habitat use, and natural and anthropogenic threats, along with estimates of abundance, demography, and mortality.
Program Priorities
Proposals must address at least one (1) of the four (4) stated programmatic Priorities listed below. Applications may address more than one priority, but different priorities should be presented as separate objectives/activities in the proposal. The application should clearly identify which Priority it falls within on the title page of the application. Priorities are listed in the order of anticipated funding availability.
- Priority 1: Research to inform mitigation measures to reduce interactions (including hooking or entanglement of the whales in fishing gear, and depredation of bait or catch by the whales) between hook-and-line fisheries and false killer whales in the central and western Pacific. Projects may include (but are not limited to) research to better understand the impact of fisheries interactions on false killer whale populations, how/where/when false killer whales interact with fishing gear, methods for reducing serious injury and mortality rates of false killer whales, examination of the factors leading to depredation, and potential mechanisms for reducing depredation.
- Priority 2: Research on the demographics, abundance, and/or movement patterns of Main Hawaiian Islands insular and Hawaii pelagic false killer whale populations. Such projects should contribute methods or information that may be used to improve the quality of the population assessment for these stocks.
- Priority 3: Research on abundance, distribution, and/or human disturbance of spinner dolphins in the main Hawaiian Islands, with special emphasis on spinner dolphins in the Maui Nui region.
- Priority 4: Research to inform cetacean stock assessment in the Pacific Islands Region. This may include (but is not limited to) development of methods to integrate disparate datasets to carry out quantitative assessments, development of automated approaches for processing photographic, telemetry, or acoustic datasets, and other research to inform stock structure, distribution, abundance, and trends. Projects addressing this priority should focus on one or both of the following areas:
- Research to inform assessment of island-associated cetaceans in the Hawaiian Islands.
- Research or methods development that may be used to improve cetacean stock assessments throughout the Pacific Islands Region.
Funding Information
Total funding available under this notice is not anticipated to exceed $565,000 in FY 2023 funds. Actual funding availability for this program is contingent upon FY 2023 Federal appropriations. Single or multi-year projects are encouraged, with project periods not to exceed 3 years, with annual funding amounts not to exceed $350,000. This means that the maximum funding for multiple-year project or year one of a multi-year project is $350,000, the maximum funding for a two-year multi-year project is $700,000, and the maximum funding for a three-year multi-year project is $1,050,000.
Eligible Applicants
- County governments
- For profit organizations other than small businesses
- Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
- City or township governments
- Private institutions of higher education
- Public and State controlled institutions of higher education
- Small businesses
- Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized)
- State governments
- Individuals
- Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
