Fisheries Resource Monitoring Program – US

Deadline: 24-Feb-23

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is pleased to announce an open call for the Fisheries Resource Monitoring Program to identify and provide information needed to sustain subsistence fisheries on Federal public lands for rural Alaskans through a multidisciplinary, collaborative program.

Funding Priorities

• The main focus of the Monitoring Program will continue to be projects whose purpose is the collection, dissemination, and application of information used in the management of Federal subsistence fisheries in Alaska.
• It is also the intent of the Monitoring Program to support partnerships and provide opportunities for capacity building of rural organizations, communities, and individuals. Applicants are encouraged to develop the highest level of community and regional collaboration that is practical.
• Investigators must demonstrate that capacity building has already reached the communication or partnership development stage during proposal development, and ideally, include a strategy to develop capacity building to higher levels, recognizing, however, that in some situations higher level involvement may not be desired or feasible by local organizations.
• Priority Information Needs
  • The Office of Subsistence Management is targeting this Funding Opportunity towards projects that address specific priority information needs identified by Federal Subsistence Regional Advisory Councils.

Categories

Three broad categories of information will be considered:

• Harvest Monitoring
  • Harvest monitoring studies provide information on numbers and species of fish harvested, locations of harvests, and gear types used. Methods used to gather information on subsistence harvest patterns may include harvest calendars, mail-in questionnaires, household interviews, subsistence permit reports, and telephone interviews.
• Traditional Ecological Knowledge
  • Traditional ecological knowledge studies are investigations of local knowledge directed at collecting and analyzing information on a variety of topics, including; the sociocultural aspects of subsistence, fish ecology, species identification, local names, life history, taxonomy, season movements, harvest, spawning and rearing areas, population trends, environmental observations, and traditional management systems. Some methods used to document traditional ecological knowledge include ethnographic fieldwork, key respondent interviews with local experts, place name mapping, and open-ended surveys.
• Stock Status and Trends
  • Stock status and trends studies provide information on abundance and run timing; age, size, age/sex composition; migration and geographic distribution; survival of juveniles or adults; stock production; genetic stock identification, and mixed stock analyses. Methods used to gather information on stock status and trends include aerial and ground surveys, test fishing, towers, weirs, sonar, video, genetics, mark-recapture, and telemetry.

Funding Information

• Estimated Total Funding: $9,000,000
• Maximum Award: $940,000
• Minimum Award: $40,000
• Expected Award Date: April 01, 2024. Proposals requesting Monitoring Program funding that exceeds $235,000 in any one year will not be considered.
• Expected Number of Awards: 23

Geographic Regions

• Proposals should address one of six Alaska geographic regions: Northern, Yukon Drainage, Kuskokwim Drainage, Southwest, Southcentral, and Southeast.

Eligibility Criteria

• Eligible Applicants
  • Unrestricted
• Additional Information on Eligibility
  • Applicants should have the necessary technical and administrative abilities and resources to ensure successful completion of studies.
• To be considered for funding under the Monitoring Program, a proposed project must have a linkage to Federal subsistence fishery management in Alaska. This means that a proposed project must have a direct association to a Federal subsistence fishery, and that either the subsistence fishery or fish stocks in question must occur in or pass through waters within and adjacent to Federal public lands in Alaska (National Wildlife Refuges, National Forests, National Parks and Preserves, National Conservation Areas, National Wild and Scenic River Systems, National Petroleum Reserves, and National Recreation Areas).
• Activities not eligible for funding under the Monitoring Program include: (1) habitat protection, mitigation, restoration, and enhancement, (2) hatchery propagation, restoration, enhancement, and supplementation, and (3) contaminant assessment, evaluation, and monitoring. The rationale behind this approach is to ensure that existing responsibilities and effort by government agencies are not duplicated under the Monitoring Program. Land management or regulatory agencies already have direct responsibility, as well as specific programs, to address these activities.
• Projects where the primary or only objective is outreach and education (for example, science camps, technician training, and intern programs), rather than information collection, are not eligible for funding under the Monitoring Program. Applicants will be notified in writing if their proposals are not eligible for consideration through the Monitoring Program.
• Foreign Entities or Projects:
• State Sponsors of Terrorism: This program will not fund projects in countries determined by the U.S. Department of State to have repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism and therefore are subject to sanctions restricting receipt of U.S. foreign assistance and other financial transactions.
• Office of Foreign Assets Control Sanctions: This program will not fund projects in countries subject to comprehensive sanction programs administered by the U.S. Department of Treasury, Office of Foreign Asset Control without proper licenses.
• In-Country Licenses, Permits, or Approvals: Entities conducting activities outside the U.S. are responsible for coordinating with appropriate U.S. and foreign government authorities as necessary to obtain all required licenses, permits, or approvals before undertaking project activities. The Service does not assume responsibility for recipient compliance with the laws, regulations, policies, or procedures of the foreign country in which they are conducting work.
• Proposal Evaluation Criteria. Project investigation plans are evaluated using five equally weighted criteria: (1) strategic priority, (2) technical and scientific merit, (3) investigator ability and resources, (4) partnership-capacity building, and (5) cost/benefit.
• Indicators of successful projects are technical soundness, administrative competence, and cost effectiveness. Successful projects promote partnerships and capacity building and address critical Federal subsistence fisheries research and monitoring needs. Successful projects have rigorous sampling and/or research designs with appropriate, clearly stated, and achievable objectives and incorporate traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). Rural community members have meaningful roles such as in project management or fieldwork, and requested funds are reasonable and justified.

For more information, visit Grants.gov.