In September, NOAA Sea Grant announced $16 million in federal funding awards to support 42 research projects and collaborative programs aimed at advancing sustainable aquaculture in the United States.
The funded projects focus on three areas of need identified by Sea Grant:
- Advanced Aquaculture Collaborative Programs: Ten projects will develop integrated teams of professionals focused on accelerating the development of specific aquaculture topics. These teams will establish a collaborative program to plan for and appropriately focus the next generation of aquaculture investments while enhancing the synthesis and transfer of past research advances to the industry.
- Exploring New Aquaculture Opportunities: Sixteen projects will focus on the development of new, and at times higher-risk, topics for which minimal foundation currently exists to inform and focus potential future investments.
- Social, Economic, and Behavioral Research Needs in Aquaculture: Sixteen projects will address critical gaps in social, behavioral, and economic knowledge as it relates to U.S. aquaculture and the communities impacted and served by it.
The grant recipients must match 50 percent of their funding with non-federal funds. For the three funding opportunities combined, NOAA received 136 proposals requesting over $52 million in federal funds.
The list of funded projects is available at seagrant.noaa.gov/.
source: NOAA Sea Grant