Aquaculture Awards

Grants to California researchers at universities and institutions for projects to address practical solutions to marine issues. Applicants are required to submit a pre-proposal prior to a full grant application. Priority will be given to sustainable projects that benefit the industry and address environmental stressors, aquaculture, and ecosystem monitoring.

Successful Sea Grant projects involve both a substantial intellectual question and the promise of useful application to a California coastal or ocean issue. California Sea Grant encourages projects that are likely to yield measurable impacts to the local economy, community, and environment. To that end, each proposal must identify and collaborate with an aquaculture practitioner. These interactions will help ensure that Sea Grant funded research results are useful to and used by stakeholders, and afford access to experienced professionals who can provide reiterating feedback to the project. The process also will help develop practical results for the project in science communication, collaboration, and transferring science to management.

One of the principal goals of California Sea Grant is the application of project results for the benefit of industry. This request for proposals (RFP) is focused on proposals that address objectives specific to aquaculture priorities described in the Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture (SFA) section of the California Sea Grant's strategic plan. Please see the updated Strategic Plan (in Supporting Documents, below) for complete information on strategies and desired outcomes of California Sea Grant’s Strategic Plan Focus Areas.

Applicants must propose to conduct research that addresses the following Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture Focus Area strategies outlined below. In particular, these research topics are seen as priority areas for this call for proposals:

• Causes, influences, and/or solutions related to multi-stressors, in particular those focused on some combination of temperature stress, salinity stress, hypoxia stress, pathogens and/or parasites, harmful algal blooms, and environmental contaminants;
• Quantification of potential ecosystem services associated with restoration aquaculture;
• Overcoming permitting challenges including investigating the biological, economic, and/or regulatory feasibility of aquaculture impact avoidance and mitigation;
• Exploring the feasibility, scalability and/or ecological relevance of conservation/restoration aquaculture, including but not limited to development or testing of culture methods;
• Developing efficient and cost effective monitoring technologies for evaluating potential ecosystem services and impacts resulting from aquaculture activities;
• Evaluating strategies for adapting to changes in the seafood supply system through development of new aquaculture products (types, forms, value-added) and/or marketing arrangements.

For Strategies and Goals, see URL for Full Text (RFP).

Research Priorities:

• Safeguard coastal and marine ecosystems and communities in the face of climate change
• Advance equity across ocean and coastal policies and actions
• Enhance coastal and marine biodiversity
• Improve ocean health through a blue economy 
  

For more details on Research Priorities, see Supporting Documents, below.