2025 Funding Opportunity Open
NOAA Fisheries announces the availability of about $2.3 million for collaborative bycatch reduction projects. We invite non-federal researchers working on the development of improved fishing practices and innovative gear technologies that reduce bycatch to apply and encourage applicants to include and demonstrate principles of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. We’re looking for proactive, meaningful, and equitable community engagement in the identification, design, and/or implementation of proposed projects.
NOAA Fisheries is recommending more than $2.6 million in funding for 13 projects under its 2024 Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program. At this point in the selection process, the application approval and obligation of funds is not final. Each of these applications are being “recommended.” This is not an authorization to start the project and is not a guarantee of funding.
Read brief descriptions of the recommended projects.
Bycatch is catch that fishermen do not want, cannot sell, or are not allowed to keep. Bycatch of various species—fish, marine mammals, or turtles—can have significant biological, economic, and social impacts. Preventing and reducing bycatch is a shared goal of fisheries managers, the fishing industry, and the environmental community.
Working side-by-side with fishermen on their boats we've developed solutions to some of the top bycatch challenges facing our nation's fisheries.
Examples of past regional projects include:
- Researchers on the West Coast showed that a dual sorting, flexible grid system called Flexigrid reduces under-sized sablefish bycatch by more than 45%. It does this while maintaining catch of adult sablefish and other target fish species.
- In the Southeast, use of larger circle hooks is reducing bycatch of under-sized red grouper by more than 70 percent. Smaller circle hooks are providing greater selectivity at catching red snapper.
2024 Recommended Recipients by Region
Northeast/Mid-Atlantic
- Blue Planet Strategies: $191,853
- Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County: $179,262
- Lift Labs, Inc.: $228,304
- University of New England: $238,940
Southeast/Gulf of Mexico
- Executive Office of the U.S.V.I. Government: $200,000
- Florida Atlantic University: $248,482
- Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi: $249,900
West Coast
- Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission: $245,743
- Sub Sea Sonics, LLC: $193,391
Alaska
- University of Alaska, Fairbanks: $197,595
- FishNext Research LLC: $199,998
Pacific Islands
- International Seafood Sustainability Foundation, Inc.: $205,625
- Pacific Islands Fisheries Group: $74,328
Priority Research Areas for Fiscal Year 2024
- Researching new technology
- Encouraging technology adoption
- Reducing post-release mortality
- Avoiding habitat interactions
- Conducting international research
