Grants / Department of Commerce / DOC NOAA - ERA Production

NOAA-OAR-SG-2024-23706: FY2024-2025 National Sea Grant BIL Marine Debris Challenge Competition

Closed Closed March 27, 2024 Opportunity NOAA-OAR-SG-2024-23706 ☆ Save

This grant is closed. Who won this program's grants before is below, and similar open grants are at the end of the page. It is in our archive of DOC NOAA - ERA Production notices from 2023.

• Award ceiling$3.0 million
• Award floor$250,000
• Expected awards12
• Cost sharingNot required
• Funding typeCooperative Agreement, Grant

Key dates

Who can apply

This opportunity was open to the applicants described in the notice.

• Others (see text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility" for clarification)

This opportunity is open to any person or group within the United States or its territories, as well as tribal nations within those geographies. Applicants must submit proposals in partnership with a relevant Sea Grant program. Please note that it is not a requirement that investigators, including the PI, are part of a Sea Grant program. Contact information for Sea Grant programs can be found at: https://seagrant.noaa.gov/About. If you need further assistance in identifying a program to partner with, please contact one of the Sea Grant Marine Debris Team listed below in Section VII. Agency Contacts. Federal agencies and their personnel are not permitted to receive federal funding under this competition; however, federal scientists and other employees can serve as uncompensated partners or co-Principal Investigators on applications. Federal labs and offices can also make available specialized expertise, facilities, or equipment to applicants but cannot be compensated under this competition for their use. The National Sea Grant College Program champions diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and accessibility (DEIJA) by recruiting, retaining, and preparing a diverse workforce, and proactively engaging and serving the diverse populations of coastal communities. Sea Grant is committed to building inclusive research, extension, communication, and education programs that serve people with unique backgrounds, circumstances, needs, perspectives, and ways of thinking. We encourage applicants of all ages, races, ethnicities, national origins, gender identities, sexual orientations, disabilities, cultures, religions, citizenship types, marital statuses, education levels, job classifications, veteran status types, income, and socioeconomic status types to apply for this opportunity.

Is this a realistic fit?

• Past Sea Grant Support awards averaged $703,725; this notice allows up to $3.0 million per award.
• Most of the program's money (79% over five years) went to colleges and universities.
• No cost sharing or match is required.

What the grant funds

NOAA works through Sea Grant institutions to increase the understanding, assessment, development, management, utilization, and conservation of the Nation’s ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes resources by providing assistance to promote a strong educational base, responsive research and training activities, broad and prompt dissemination of knowledge and techniques, and multidisciplinary approaches to environmental problems, in accordance with 33 USC 1121(b). There are many types, sources, and causes of marine debris, defined by statute as "any persistent solid material that is manufactured or processed and directly or indirectly, intentionally or unintentionally, disposed of or abandoned into the marine environment or the Great Lakes" (15 C.F.R. § 909.1). Marine debris has long been a significant issue and may include (but is not limited to) plastic waste, trash, derelict vessels, lost or discarded fishing gear, and microplastics. The mass production of plastics, and their ubiquity of application and use across every economic sector, has ultimately resulted in an inescapable global marine debris problem. The United States is the top generator of plastic waste in the world (Law 2020), with a per capita generation rate of 2.22 to 2.72 kg per person per day (EREF 2016, Powell and Chertow 2019, U.S. EPA 2021a). The management of solid plastic waste varies per state and local government and consists of landfilling, recycling, and incineration. An unquantified amount of waste, however, is mismanaged and leaked into the environment. Recognizing the imperative to address the fate of plastics into marine environments, in 2004, the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy identified marine “debris,” a term used to describe a wide-range of aquatic-solid waste pollution, as a national ocean priority (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2021. Reckoning with the U.S. Role in Global Ocean Plastic Waste). To strengthen efforts in prevention and mitigation, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), has directed NOAA’s National Sea Grant College Program to execute $50.0 million over five years for the prevention and removal of marine debris. While plastics are a key focus, this work will also address other relevant types of marine debris, as appropriate. This work will complement broader NOAA efforts, particularly, the National Ocean Service’s Marine Debris Program, focused on active removal, cleanup, mitigation, and prevention of marine debris.

Category: Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).

Applying now

This notice no longer takes applications. Agencies often post the same opportunity again under a new number, so check the program's notices on Grants.gov and the similar open grants below.

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