Deadline: 20-May-22
The Schmidt Marine Technology Partners has launched the applications for the Global Fisheries Tech Initiative to support development of new technologies that increase fisheries sustainability.
The effort is also being funded by two anonymous philanthropic groups.
Schmidt Marine funds groups at a variety of stages, but prioritizes support to projects in the earliest stages of development, when funding is most difficult to obtain. Schmidt Marine traditionally commits to fund a project for several years until it has reached financial stability through traditional investment or contracts and sales.
Focus Areas
Though other ideas will be considered, the primary focus will be on:
- New or improved methods and tools for fisheries data collection, especially those enabling fisheries stock assessments. Of particular interest are technologies that offer the potential for low-cost, reliable, and efficient deployment even in remote areas.
- Creative methods and new collaborations to substantially expand capabilities for analyzing fisheries data sets to increase the sustainability of fisheries through reduction of overfishing, prevention of illegal fishing, or creation of premium sustainable markets.
- Fishing gear or gear modifications that reduce bycatch, derelict gear, and/or habitat destruction, or that increase fishermen safety or the survival rates of discarded catch. Such technologies should offer benefits to fishermen or other characteristics that open plausible paths for adoption.
- Tools that enable improved fishing ground and protected area monitoring to prevent situations where good players are penalized and illegal players profit.
Funding Information
Individual grants typically range from $100,000 to $500,000 per year, and to date the program has funded more than 60 technologies focused on ocean health.
Eligibility Criteria
- Applications are welcome from any country.
- While the initiative does not have a specific regional focus, Schmidt Marine is seeking technologies that have the potential to enable improvements in multiple regions, especially areas where management and monitoring resources are most limited.
- Selected projects will reflect a strong understanding of the political structures of target deployment regions. They should be well grounded in both the realities of fishing and fisheries science and management, and in the case of new gear or gear improvements, should offer benefits to fishermen that make adoption feasible.
- The initiative also encourages applications from individuals and groups who do not typically work on ocean issues, such as companies with technologies for other applications that offer potential in fisheries.
- University researchers, non-profit organizations, and for-profit companies, including commercial fishing groups, are all eligible to apply.
For more information, visit https://www.schmidtmarine.org/sustainable-fisheries-rfp/