FY2025 National Aquaculture Initiative: Strengthening U.S. Coastal, Marine, and Great Lakes Aquaculture Through Business Support

The National Sea Grant College Program was enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1966 (amended in 2020, Public Law 116-221) to support leveraged federal and state partnerships that harness the intellectual capacity of the nation’s universities and research institutions to solve problems and generate opportunities in coastal communities.

Subject to the availability of funding, Sea Grant anticipates that approximately $5,000,000 will be available for research projects and programs that will focus on strengthening U.S. coastal, marine, and Great Lakes aquaculture via support for the development of new aquaculture businesses, as well as enhancing existing aquaculture business output, efficiency, and profitability. Federal funds ranging from $100,000-$1,000,000 may be requested per application. Successful proposals will address topical needs (described below) and integrate research and extension. Proposals are sought that will support broad, non-proprietary research with the goal of enhancing aquaculture businesses, and preferably include participation and involvement of Sea Grant extension personnel and industry stakeholders. These investments are consistent with Sea Grant’s focus area of Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture (SFA) and the Sea Grant Network’s 10-year Aquaculture Vision, both which support NOAA and Department of Commerce aquaculture goals. This opportunity is open to: any individual; any public or private corporation, partnership, or other association or entity (including any Sea Grant College, Sea Grant Institute, or other institution); or any State, political subdivision of a State, Tribal government or agency, or officer thereof. Federal agencies and their personnel are not permitted to receive federal funding under this competition; however, federal scientists and other employees can serve as uncompensated partners or co-Principal Investigators on applications. Federal labs and offices can also make available specialized expertise, facilities or equipment to applicants but cannot be compensated under this competition for their use, nor can the value of such assets be used as match.

All projects must take place within the United States or territories or their respective waterways.

Applicants must complete and maintain three registrations to be eligible to apply for or receive an award. These registrations include SAM.gov, Grants.gov, and eRA Commons. All registrations must be completed prior to the application being submitted. The complete registration process for all three systems can take 4 to 6 weeks, so applicants should begin this activity as soon as possible. If an eligible applicant does not have access to the internet, please contact the Agency Contacts listed in Section VII for submission instructions. NOAA has created a guide to aid applicants format application packages to eRA: Tips and Tricks for Successful eRA Submissions, linked here.

Prior to registering with eRA Commons, applicants must first obtain a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) from SAM.gov, if needed (refer to Section IV. Applications and Submission Information, Section C). Applicants can register with eRA Commons in tandem with completing their full SAM and Grants.gov registrations; however, all registrations must be in place by time of application submission. eRA Commons requires organizations to identify at least one Signing Official (SO) and at least one Program Director/Principal Investigator (PD/PI) account in order to submit an application.

This document sets out requirements for submitting to NOAA-OAR-SG-2025-28975.