NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Grant Program

This page provides background information and funding guidance for the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Grant Program. Background documents and Grant Program Guidance are available for download as pdfs.

Overview
Program Priorities and Eligibility
FY09 Funding Announcement
Funding Availability
How to Apply
Due Dates for Applications
Background Documents

Overview

Each year, subject to the availability of funds, the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program publishes its Coral Reef Conservation Grant Program Funding Guidance (Guidance), as authorized by the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000 (Act), to solicit proposals for coral reef conservation activities.

The Act authorizes the Secretary of Commerce, through the NOAA administrator, to issue matching grants of financial assistance for broad-based coral reef conservation activities, consistent with the purposes of the Act. Pursuant to section 6403 of the Act, which establishes the Coral Reef Conservation (Grant) Program, the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Grant Program Implementation Guidelines (Guidelines) was published in the Federal Register on April 19, 2002 (67 FR 19396).

The Guidelines provide general program criteria pursuant to that outlined in the Act and establish that specific funding guidance will be published annually. Each year's Guidance subsequently outlines the particular proposal instructions for all program categories soliciting proposals. The respective specific eligibility, evaluation and selection criteria for both applicants and activities are detailed as well.

Funds are awarded under the following six program categories:

State and Territory Coral Reef Management (Applicants: State and Territory Management Agencies);
State and Territory Coral Reef Ecosystem Monitoring (Applicants: State and Territory Management Agencies);
Coral Reef Ecosystem Research (Applicants: Academia, NGO's, etc.);
Projects to Improve or Amend Coral Reef Fishery Management Plans (Applicants: South Atlantic, Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and Western Pacific Fishery Management Councils);
General Coral Reef Conservation (Applicants: Academia, NGOs, Local and Tribal governments, community organizations, etc.); and
International Coral Reef Conservation (Applicants: International governments, NGOs).

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Program Priorities and Eligibility

A separate Federal Funding Opportunity (FFO) announcement is published for each of the Program categories listed above, which describes the following specific requirements and criteria:

Program priorities
Funding Availability
Application review and selection
Applicant and project eligibility
Application content and submission
Award administration

Applicants should refer to the individual FFOs for specific application information for each grant program category.

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FY09 Funding Announcement

Grant funding availability for the Coral Reef Conservation Grant Program is announced as part of NOAA's annual omnibus notice. The most recent omnibus notice, which provides synopses for all NOAA grant funding opportunities for fiscal year 2009, was published in the Federal Register on July 11, 2008 (vol. 73, No. 134).

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Funding Availability

In 2002 - 2007 NOAA awarded a total of over $38.4 million in matching grants under the six funding categories (approximately $5.8 million per fiscal year). Approximately $7.3 million was appropriated for the fiscal year 2008 awards and a similar amount is anticipated for fiscal year 2009. Funds available and match requirements for each of the program categories are specified in the individual FFOs.

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How to Apply

Individual Federal Funding Opportunity (FFO) announcements for each of the grant program categories were made available along with the FY2009 omnibus notice. FFOs provide specific funding details and application requirements for the individual funding categories and can be downloaded using the links below.

Use the Funding Opportunity Number listed below to search for and download the application package for each specific grant program funding category at the Grants.gov search page.

Note: The coral reef ecosystem research grant category is administered separately from the other five Program categories and is on a different funding cycle. Refer to the NOAA National Undersea Research Program Web site for annual funding announcements and application requirements.

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Due Dates for Applications

Applications must be received by NOAA according to the due dates indicated in the table below.

Pre-applications - submit by email to coral.grants@noaa.gov.

Final/Full grant applications ñ submit using the Grants.gov Federal grant application portal.

If e-mail and/or internet access is unavailable, hard copies can be mailed to:

David Kennedy
NOAA National Ocean Service
NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program
Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management
N/OCRM, Room 10411
1305 East West Highway
Silver Spring, MD 20910.

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for more information:

Visit the funding opportunities page for information on other funding sources.