Grants / Department of Defense / Engineer Research and Development Center

W81EWF-25-SOI-0008: Oyster Larval Transport/Hydrodynamic Modeling for the Herring Bay Sanctuary, Maryland

Closed Closed August 6, 2025 Opportunity W81EWF-25-SOI-0008 ☆ Save

This grant is closed. A newer notice from the same program is open now: ERDC Broad Agency Announcement (W912HZ26S0001). Status: Closes January 1, 2027 (55 days left). It is in our archive of Engineer Research and Development Center notices from 2025.

• Award ceiling$115,000
• Total funding$115,000
• Expected awards1
• Cost sharingNot required
• Funding typeCooperative Agreement

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 restricted to non-federal partners of the Chesapeake Watershed Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit (CESU).

Is this a realistic fit?

• Past Basic, Applied, and Advanced Research in Science and Engineering awards averaged $1.1 million; this notice allows up to $115,000 per award.
• Most of the program's money (69% over five years) went to colleges and universities.
• No cost sharing or match is required.

What the grant funds

Background: The Chesapeake Bay Agreement 2014 goal of successfully restoring oysters to 10 tributary rivers, 5 in Virginia and 5 in Maryland is on track to be achieved in 2025. This was the initial goal of the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Oyster Goal Implementation Team (GIT). In considering future restoration efforts, USACE-Baltimore District and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) are considering selecting Herring Bay, an open water sanctuary for a large-scale restoration project. Herring Bay is in the mainstem of the middle Chesapeake Bay along the western shoreline. The Herring Bay Sanctuary is expansive at 16,792 ac. Within the sanctuary, 7,981 (48%) is historic oyster bottom or Yates Bars that would be evaluated for restoration potential as part of the process to develop a restoration plan for the sanctuary. Historically, this portion of the Bay held abundant oyster habitat, but over harvesting, impaired water quality, loss of habitat, and disease have all contributed to low populations today. Limited sampling by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) have identified populations to be essentially eliminated from the existing sanctuary. Conditions including water quality and bottom substrate support reef restoration, however little information on reproduction and larval transport are available to support developing restoration plans. An understanding of local currents and their ability to transport oyster larvae to and within the sanctuary will play a key role in reestablishing sustainable oyster reef habitat and populations. It is known that most oyster reef systems consist of both source and sink reefs, with the source reefs providing oyster larvae to self-replenish, as well as providing larvae to other hydrodynamically-connected reefs (Lipcius et al. 2015, Theuerkauf et al. 2021). The intent of this investigation is to generate information to identify source and sink dynamics within Herring Bay. That information will be folded into tributary plan development to prioritize sites for restoration sites. Simulations from bio-physical models can be used to identify potential restoration sites based on how they fit into the regional metapopulation. USACE and MDNR intend to use the findings of the proposed modeling to identify a phased restoration plan to restore sustainable oyster populations to Herring Bay. Lipcius, R.N., Burke, R.P., McCulloch, D.N., Schreiber, S.J., Schulte, D.M., Seitz, R.D., Shen, J., 2015.

Category: Science and Technology and other Research and Development.

Applying now

This notice no longer takes applications. Apply under the newer notice, W912HZ26S0001, which is open now.

The notice on Grants.gov keeps its full text and attachments, which is useful for planning a resubmission.