National Sea Grant American Lobster Research Program | NOAA OAR SG 2019 2005917

Opportunity Information: Apply for NOAA OAR SG 2019 2005917

The National Sea Grant American Lobster Research Program is a competitive NOAA Sea Grant funding opportunity focused on understanding how environmental change, especially ocean warming, is affecting the American lobster fishery in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank. The program is motivated by the lobster fishery's major economic importance (estimated ex-vessel value around $666.7 million) and by growing scientific and industry concern that recent environmental shifts could undermine future lobster abundance, recruitment, and the coastal economies that depend on the fishery. Even though lobster landings increased for decades and the 2015 stock assessment reported record-high abundance in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank, warning signs have appeared, including declining settlement and young-of-year survey declines starting in 2012, plus a notable drop in Maine landings reported in 2017. The well-documented recruitment collapse in southern New England is treated as a cautionary example that similar dynamics could emerge farther north after years of strong harvests.

This grant opportunity is designed to fill key knowledge gaps about lobster biology, habitat use, and fishery dynamics as conditions change. NOAA Sea Grant emphasizes that warming temperatures may affect lobster migration patterns, growth rates, maturation timing, and natural mortality, while broader ecosystem and food-web changes may increase larval mortality or alter early life survival. Another central issue is uncertainty around how lobster habitat is shifting and whether lobster distribution is changing in ways that will reshape the fishery, including the balance between traditional nearshore fishing and an expanding offshore component. Because management and community planning depend on anticipating these shifts, the program also highlights the need to understand socioeconomic impacts, including how communities may adapt to changes in availability, seasonality, fishing locations, and costs.

Proposed projects must focus geographically on the Gulf of Maine and/or Georges Bank and address at least one of four priority research areas. The first priority is improved understanding of life history parameters, such as migration, growth, and maturity, including documenting changes that fishers and researchers are already observing. The second area is larval and early life biology, reflecting concern that climate-driven ecosystem changes could influence larval survival and ultimately recruitment. The third area is spatial distribution, including movements between inshore and offshore habitats and broader shifts in where lobsters are found and harvested. The fourth area is socioeconomic analysis, specifically drawing lessons from the southern New England recruitment failure and applying those insights to potential risks and adaptation strategies for Georges Bank and the Gulf of Maine. Across all four topics, proposals may receive special emphasis when they clearly connect their questions and methods to warming temperature impacts.

In terms of funding and award structure, this is a discretionary program using cooperative agreements under CFDA 11.417 (Sea Grant Support). NOAA anticipated making roughly 5 to 10 awards in FY2019, depending on appropriations, with total program funding expected to fall between $1 million and $2 million. Individual projects were capped at an award ceiling of $400,000, and project durations could not exceed two years, signaling an intent to fund targeted, near-term studies that can quickly inform management and industry decisions. The opportunity was issued by the U.S. Department of Commerce, with the funding opportunity number NOAA-OAR-SG-2019-2005917, originally posted January 30, 2019, and originally due April 11, 2019. Applicants were directed to follow Sea Grant guidance, including the Sea Grant General Application Guide, and eligibility was described generally as "Others" with details provided in the full eligibility section of the notice.

Overall, the program is framed as a rapid, problem-driven research initiative shaped by input from listening sessions with fishing industry stakeholders, fisheries managers, and researchers. Its goal is to produce practical, decision-relevant science that helps explain recent warning signals in recruitment and settlement, improves the ability to anticipate distribution and life history changes under warming conditions, and supports fishery resilience planning for one of the most valuable fisheries on the U.S. Atlantic coast.

• The Department of Commerce in the environment, natural resources, science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "National Sea Grant American Lobster Research Program" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 11.417.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jan 30, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Apr 11, 2019. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $400,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 10 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for NOAA OAR SG 2019 2005917

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