The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) and NOAA‟s Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) announce the availability of grant funding in the following proposal categories (see the ‘Proposal Categories’ section below for further detail):
Domestic U.S. Jurisdictions: Florida, U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI), Puerto Rico, Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). Go to (www.nfwf.org/coralreef/priorities) to learn about priority reef and watershed geographies within these jurisdictions.

• Enhance Watershed Management Planning: Supplemental funds to enhance the development of evaluation and monitoring components of watershed management plans currently being developed for priority coral reef ecosystems and associated watersheds (see list); CRCP Goal/Objective: Land Based Sources of Pollution Objective: 1.3.

• Reduce Sedimentation: Implement existing and draft watershed management plans within priority coral reef ecosystems and associated watersheds to improve water quality and enhance coral reef ecosystem resilience. Focus on stream bank stabilization; CRCP Goal/Objective: Land Based Sources of Pollution Objective: 1.3.

• Improve Fisheries Management: Work with relevant agency offices and communities to create, implement, and improve the management of sustainable coral reef fisheries. Focus on sustainable reef fish stock management, herbivore stocks, and improving compliance with regulations related to coral reef fishing and MPAs; CRCP Goal/Objective: Fishing Impacts 2.4

International: Regional focus on Micronesia, Samoa and the Southwest Pacific, the Coral Triangle region, and the Wider Caribbean; however, all international coral reef locations are eligible.

• Implement NOAA’s International Strategy: Implementing activities that support the priority goals and objectives identified in NOAA CRCP‟s International Strategy including but not limited to the issue and geographic priorities described in more detail below. 

• Apply Lessons from NOAA-Sponsored Training Programs: Implementing methods and practices learned by participants in one of three recent NOAA-sponsored capacity-building programs in the Pacific: the 2010 Marine Spatial Planning and/or the 2011 Planning for Sustainable Fisheries trainings in the Bird‟s Head Seascape, Indonesia; the MPA Remote Enforcement and Compliance workshops offered in Yap and Palau in 2011; or one of the SEM-Pasifika Micronesia workshops held since 2009: Palau (Nov 2009), Chuuk, FSM (Jan 2011), Majuro, Marshall Islands (March 2011).

• Increase MPA capacity in the Caribbean: Addressing an identified capacity gap in sustainable financing, enforcement or management planning at specific MPA sites identified
in the recent NOAA-supported Assessment (sites that are eligible under each category can be found at www.nfwf.org/coralreef/priorities).

Source and More Information: