Grants to USA nonprofit and for-profit organizations, government agencies, tribes, and educational institutions to implement and improve technological innovations in the fishing industry. The purpose of the funding is to expand the use and upgrade the level of electronic technologies for fisheries catch, effort, and/or compliance monitoring, and to implement improvements to fishery information systems in U.S. fisheries. Priority fisheries include the Gulf of Mexico reef fish fishery, the New England groundfish fishery, the West Coast groundfish fishery, and the Alaska halibut and groundfish fisheries.

The Electronic Monitoring and Reporting (EMR) Grant Program will advance the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) sustainable fisheries goals to partner with fishermen and other stakeholders, state agencies, and Fishery Information Networks to systematically integrate technology into fisheries data collection and observations as well as streamline data management and use for fisheries management.

Specifically, the EMR Grant Program will solicit proposals that develop and implement promising ET that improve the timeliness and quality of fisheries data; expand access and availability of data; increase knowledge of fisheries for management, industry and science purposes; improve regional data management systems and data interoperability; and empower fishermen and other citizens to become more actively involved in the data collection process.

Examples of ET include any electronic tool used to support fisheries monitoring both onshore and at sea, including electronic reporting (e.g., e-logbooks, tablets, and other input devices), electronic monitoring (e.g., electronic cameras and gear sensors on-board fishing vessels), and vessel monitoring systems or electronic tools to improve data processing, management, or access.

Program Priorities

All proposals should outline conservation benefits of the project. Monitoring change in project metrics and ET improvement or adoption over time should be a key aspect of project proposals. NFWF and partners intend to fund projects that have wide benefits for public resources including meeting conservation, management and stakeholder objectives.  All proposals should describe how projects will promote interoperability with other fishery data systems, enhance data portability, and encourage consistent and easy access to data by authorized users. Priorities include:

Priorities include:

1. E-technology in fishery data collection:  Projects addressing this priority will implement EMR strategies for the support of fisheries conservation and management.
2. Modernize data management systems: Projects addressing this priority will modernize data management systems in order to reduce costs and improve consistency, interoperability, quality, and/or usability of information collected using e-technology.

For details on each of the above priorities, see https://www.nfwf.org/sites/default/files/2022-03/EMR_2022%2BRFP.pdf#page=2.

Projects should seek to use one of the two following approaches when addressing the priorities listed below:

1. Implement proven innovations at-scale: Competitive proposals will scale-up proven data modernization or ET innovations that are positioned to impact a significant portion of the fleet and/or multiple fishing communities. When applicable, such proposals will focus on the diffusion, adoption, and application of innovative strategies.
   
2. Develop or pilot innovative ideas: Competitive proposals will develop, test, and/or pilot innovative solutions and approaches to known fisheries and data management challenges. Innovations from all U.S. fisheries will be considered.
   

Community Impact and Engagement: Projects that incorporate outreach to communities, foster community engagement, and pursue collaborative management leading to measurable conservation benefits are encouraged.