July 28, 2016 — NOAA Fisheries estimates it will provide $10 million in funding for the 2017 Saltonstall-Kennedy grant program for projects concentrating on sustainable fisheries and coastal fishing communities, the federal fisheries regulator announced.
The $10 million is based on initial estimates of seafood import tariff revenues and could fluctuate higher or lower, according to Susan Olsen, who coordinates the Saltonstall-Kennedy program within NOAA’s Gloucester-based Greater Atlantic Region.
“It has the opportunity to grow or shrink, but based on our estimates, the $10 million figure was reasonable,” Olsen said.
In 2016, NOAA Fisheries recommended $11 million in funding for 50 projects nationally, which was about $1 million more than the agency initially said it expected to distribute as part of the grants program. Neither of the two applicants from Cape Ann — Gloucester Marine Genomics Institute and the Gloucester Fishing Community Preservation Fund — made the final cut for funding in 2016.
This year’s application process includes changes from years past that NOAA Fisheries said “will help applicants sharpen their submissions for greater success.”