The Marine Turtle Conservation Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) provides support to projects that deliver measurable results which conserve marine turtles in their habitats, conserve the nesting habitats, and address other threats to the survival of marine turtles.
Our strategy encompasses the following key objectives to meet our goal:
- Marine Turtle Conservation on Nesting Beaches: Conserving marine turtles in their nesting habitats (including undisturbed nesting turtles, in-situ nests and hatchlings reaching the surf unobstructed) through collaborative, measurable actions to reduce threats from coastal development including artificial lighting and other human-induced disturbances, while promoting responsible beach use and coastal resiliency.
- Reducing Exploitation: Supporting community-driven initiatives to curb poaching by developing alternative livelihoods, co-developed with local stakeholders, and launching behavior change outreach programs based on social science concepts.
- Combating Trafficking: Strengthening legal protections for marine turtles by collaborating with governmental and regional entities and building partnerships that focus on sharing intelligence in a timely and coordinated manner to identify and address gaps in law enforcement capacity and judicial processes. Additionally, implementing outreach programs to reduce the demand for marine turtles.
- Implementing Marine Turtle Bycatch Reduction: Building collaborative, implementable solutions with stakeholders to reduce marine turtle bycatch in fisheries (both interaction and mortality), through modifying fishing gear and practices guided by bycatch reduction assessments, local ecological knowledge, and active engagement with fishing communities.
Guidelines for Proposed Projects
Competitive projects will work to support the Service's key objectives and enhance long-term conservation capacity for marine turtle populations.
We broadly define capacity to include:
- The capacity of habitat to sustain marine turtle populations through threat reduction, nesting beach protection and coastal resilience strategies and
- The capacity of individuals and institutions at local and national levels to champion the conservation of marine turtles in those countries and regions.
We prioritize the following actions to bolster long-term marine turtle conservation capacity within the broader Service program goals:
- Cultivate enduring conservation capacity and engagement among local and indigenous communities, local and national non-governmental organizations, government bodies, and other pertinent stakeholders.
- Support the growth of local conservation initiatives that promotes opportunities to build skills of interdisciplinary practitioners relevant to marine turtle conservation.
- Implement structured knowledge exchange programs between communities, governments, regional and international entities that include effective techniques to reduce critical threats to the survival of marine turtles in their habitats and promote nesting beach resiliency.
- Develop and implement community-led action plans that prioritize sustained threat reduction, with consistent monitoring to identify and alert relevant entities for more urgent or expanded attention if increased threats are identified.
Proposals should demonstrate how project activities directly address one or more of the key objectives and actions, including specific monitoring and evaluation plans with identified metrics.
For this Notice of Funding Opportunity, while all projects that work to implement one or more of the overall Service program goals are eligible for funding, marine turtle populations in the Pacific Ocean including Southeast Asia (as listed below) will be prioritized:
- Loggerhead turtles: North Pacific and South Pacific populations
- Green turtles: Central South Pacific and Central West Pacific populations
- Hawksbill turtles: Populations in the Pacific including Southeast Asia
- Leatherback turtles: Populations in the Pacific and Southeast Asia
- Olive Ridley turtles: Populations in Southeast Asia
Funding
The approximate amount of funding available under this program is $2,000,000 USD. The amount of funding per federal award may range from $150,000 - $500,000 USD.
The amount of funding requested must match the scope of the activities, anticipated results, and the length of the project period. For multi-year projects, project activities should be clearly articulated in phases/years and support for future phases/years will be contingent on project performance, satisfactory reporting and financial management, and availability of program funds. The anticipated start dates for awards will be July 1, 2024 or later, and periods of performance may range from 3 – 5 years.
The expected award date is July 1, 2024.
Budget and Process
Applicants must include an itemized Budget. An example budget spreadsheet and budget narrative are available on our website. These are optional documents to serve as an example of what information applicants must include in their budget and budget narrative and how to convey that information.
Applications may be submitted electronically no later than 11:59 PM EST on March 18, 2024, through GrantSolutions.gov, or alternatively through Grants.gov and must be submitted in English. Late applications will not be accepted.
A confirmation email containing an assigned application number beginning with “FWS-” will be sent to applicants upon submission. If you do not receive this email within five days of the opportunity closing date, contact mscf_marineturtle@fws.gov. Do not submit your application more than once. Duplicate applications will be discarded.
Eligibility
Applicants may be individuals, multinational secretariats, foreign national and local government agencies, U.S. and foreign non-profits, non-governmental organizations, for-profit organizations, community and Indigenous organizations, U.S. and foreign public and private institutions of higher education, and U.S. territorial governments.
Process
See the Notice of Funding Opportunity for full details on the application requirements and process for applying. This should be read carefully to ensure an application meets all eligibility requirements and is complete upon submission.
Electronically submitted applications may be submitted until 11:59 PM EDT, March 18, 2024, preferably through GrantSolutions.gov (search for funding opportunity # F24AS00158). You may also apply and find more information at Grants.gov .
Full details: Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). Apply through GrantSolutions.gov (search for funding opportunity number: F24AS00158).