Dear Colleagues,


What an opportunity we have. The National Sea Grant College Program has
just released three funding opportunities to support research and industry
engagement to advance U.S. aquaculture. With your help, we want to put
Maine’s best foot forward! The intent of these opportunities is to build on
recent NOAA investments and tap the aquaculture expertise in the Sea Grant
network. The details for each of the three opportunities are delineated here
<https://seagrant.noaa.gov/News/Article/ArtMID/1660/ArticleID/2711/Sea-Grant-Announces-Funding-Opportunities-for-Aquaculture>
:


  1. Advanced Aquaculture Collaborative Programs
<https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=313199&utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery>

$9,000,000 - LOI April 15, Full May 15



2. Exploring New Aquaculture Opportunities
<https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=313202&utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery>

$1,500,000 - LOI March 26, Full April 24


  3. Social, Behavioral, and Economic Research Needs in Aquaculture
<https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=313201&utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery>

$3,000,000 - LOI April 2, Full May 1


We have also just learned about these opportunities and want to communicate
our interests and the process. As directed in the first two FFOs, we are
required to take leadership for submissions under opportunities 1 and 2. We
are willing to be involved in proposals to the National Sea Grant Office
under FFO #3 if our participation could be of benefit, but will focus our
efforts on developing strong submissions for the first two.


The Collaborative Program and New Opportunities calls require Sea Grant
Program leadership and submission. Neither of these calls is intended to
support a single, discrete research project. As outlined in the FFOs, they
are intended to be broader projects that may involve research, but also
require industry involvement, outreach and extension components, and
increase the capacity of the Maine Sea Grant Program to support ongoing and
future research, extension, and science communication activities related to
aquaculture. As such, based on our current bandwidth, for each of the
programs our current intentions are:



   -

   Collaborative Program:
   -

      We intend to submit two Letters of Intent
      -

      Both programs will be led by Maine Sea Grant and will include the
      addition of a full time extension professional dedicated to this
      collaborative program (building capacity)
      -

      While topical details will be worked out over the next couple of
      weeks, we anticipate
      -

         Focusing on research priority areas identified in the 10-year NOAA
         Sea Grant Aquaculture Vision
         <https://seagrant.noaa.gov/Portals/0/Documents/Handouts/AquacultureVisionNOAA_March2016.pdf>
         document, and more recent network-wide planning initiatives
         -

         Forming a transdisciplinary team including industry, other local
         and state partners, and researchers from multiple disciplines
         -

      The maximum allowed budget for this opportunity is $1.2M, for a
      project period of up to 3 years, and it will require 50%
non-federal match
      in each year
      -

   New Opportunities Program:
   -

      We intend to submit up to five Letters of Intent
      -

      These submissions should be extension-oriented and should include
      some level of funding for extension professionals dedicated to
the program
      (building capacity)
      -

      While topical details will be worked out over the next couple of
      weeks for these NEW high-risk, high-reward ideas in
underexplored areas, we
      anticipate both:
      -

         Identifying specific areas of interest to our current extension
         programming and collaborations
         -

         Soliciting ideas from industry members and other collaborators and
         partners that would benefit from our extension professional’s
involvement
         and coordination
         -

      The maximum allowed budget for this opportunity is $100,000, for a
      project period of up to 2 years, and it will require 50%
non-federal match
      in each year.


The National Sea Grant Office will be providing further guidance to state
Sea Grant programs during a webinar on Monday, 4 March at 3:00 PM EST. If
you would like to participate in the webinar, please register or join using
this link
<http://links.govdelivery.com/track?type=click&enid=ZWFzPTEmbXNpZD0mYXVpZD0mbWFpbGluZ2lkPTIwMTkwMjI2LjIzMzY5ODEmbWVzc2FnZWlkPU1EQi1QUkQtQlVMLTIwMTkwMjI2LjIzMzY5ODEmZGF0YWJhc2VpZD0xMDAxJnNlcmlhbD0xODQ3MDM5NiZlbWFpbGlkPWJldGguYmlzc29uQG1haW5lLmVkdSZ1c2VyaWQ9YmV0aC5iaXNzb25AbWFpbmUuZWR1JnRhcmdldGlkPSZmbD0mZXh0cmE9TXVsdGl2YXJpYXRlSWQ9JiYm&&&107&&&https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5609018228716430859?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery>


Once we receive that additional guidance we will establish a more explicit
process for deciding on proposals that will move forward to the national
office from the Maine Sea Grant Program for FFOs 1 and 2.


In the meantime, please look through these FFOs and think about topic areas
and how you may want to be involved.



Gayle Zydlewski

Director

ME Sea Grant College Program




-- 
Gayle B. Zydlewski
<><  <><  <>< ><> ><> ><>
*Director, **Maine Sea Grant College Program *
The University of Maine
5784 York Complex, Orono, Maine 04469
207-581-1422 - phone
http://www.seagrant.umaine.edu/

*Associate Professor*
School of Marine Sciences
5741 Libby Hall, Orono, ME 04469-5741
207-581-4365 - phone
<><  <><  <>< ><> ><> ><>
[log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]> - email