The grant could provide up to $1,800,000.
The NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program, as authorized by the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000, provides matching awards of financial assistance to State, Territorial and Commonwealth resource management agencies appointed by their respective Governors to serve as the primary point of contact agencies for coral reef conservation activities in each of the jurisdictions of American Samoa, Florida, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The awards are administered as cooperative agreements to enable the collaboration and involvement of NOAA in the planning and implementation of the work. The objective of these Cooperative Agreements is to support coral reef management and monitoring programs and conservation projects that seek to improve the condition of coral reef ecosystem resources located in these seven U.S. States, Territories and Commonwealths. Funding for this program is subject to the availability of Congressional appropriations and is expected to range between approximately $4,000,000 and $5,000,000 in FY 2023. Funding made available from NOAAs Coral Reef Conservation Program is intended to support priority coral reef management activities as described in Section I.B. of this Federal Funding Opportunity announcement. Continued support in FY 2023 is contingent upon the availability of future funding; the recipients ability to administer Federal funds provided by NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program; and the performance of the recipient during the initial year of the award and past awards. NOAA expects that each eligible applicant will request Federal funding at a funding level between $500,000 and $900,000 per year, depending on the existing capabilities of the applicant agency to implement the proposed work. The average annual award size is expected to be approximately $600,000 per year.
