Saving Seafood

Biden-Harris Administration invests more than $23 million to remove marine debris

September 6, 2024 —  Today, the Department of Commerce and NOAA recommended more than $23 million in funding to support marine debris removal and interception efforts for 13 multi-year projects across 10 coastal U.S. states, three territories and the District of Columbia. This funding is provided by NOAA’s Climate-Ready Coasts initiative under the Biden-Harris Administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law as part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda.

The Climate-Ready Coasts initiative is focused on creating climate solutions by storing carbon; building resilience to coastal hazards such as extreme weather events, pollution and marine debris; restoring coastal habitats; building the capacity of coastal  communities; and supporting community-driven restoration.

“The Biden-Harris Administration is funding critical projects like these that will help remove and address harmful marine debris that can significantly impact water quality, habitats and economic prosperity in coastal communities across the nation,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “These investments, made possible thanks to President Biden’s historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, will help improve coastal communities for decades to come by making sure they have the necessary resources to protect their ecosystems and local economies from the impacts of marine debris, which are exacerbated by climate change.”

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries 

Biden-Harris Administration invests $101.5 million for ocean observing systems

September 5, 2024 — Today, the Department of Commerce and NOAA announced $101.5 million in funding across 12 awards to expand equitable service delivery and support the modernization of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) Regional Associations. U.S. IOOS supports ongoing data collection in U.S. ocean, coastal and Great Lakes waters and develops infrastructure and tools to make that data accessible. These funds are made possible by the Biden-Harris Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act.

“Thanks to President Biden and Vice President Harris’ ambitious climate agenda, we are giving communities, particularly frontline and underserved communities, the tools and information they need to build resilience to devastating weather and climate disasters,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “With this $101.5 million investment, NOAA’s IOOS will be able to improve and deliver critical information and tools to help coastal communities become more resilient to the impacts of climate change.”

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries 

Biden-Harris Administration Marks Major Milestones for Offshore Wind, Approves Tenth Project

September 4, 2024 — The following was released by BOEM:

The Biden-Harris administration today announced the approval of the Maryland Offshore Wind Project – the nation’s tenth commercial-scale offshore wind energy project approved under President Biden’s leadership. With today’s approval, the Department has approved more than 15 gigawatts of clean energy from offshore wind energy projects – equivalent to half of the capacity needed to achieve President Biden’s goal of 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030. Projects approved to date will power 5.25 million homes.

“The clean energy future is now! Today’s milestone marks another giant leap toward our ambitious goal of unleashing 30 gigawatts of offshore energy by 2030,” said Acting Deputy Secretary Laura Daniel-Davis. “Our work to approve the nation’s first ten commercial-scale offshore wind project is the result of the tenacious public servants at the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to expedite the federal permitting process. Thanks to President Biden’s bold Investing in America agenda, we’re tackling climate change head-on, sparking job growth, and ensuring that every community shares in the economic opportunities of this new era.”

US shrimpers seek import crackdown over sea turtles

September 5, 2024 — Two U.S. shrimping groups have asked the Biden administration to suspend imports of wild shrimp from Guatemala and Peru, saying the two countries have failed to comply with longstanding State Department requirements to use fishing gear that avoids sea turtle entanglements.

The organizations further argue that lax monitoring and enforcement of international sea turtle protection standards, adopted by Congress in 1989 and enforced under what’s known as the Section 609 program, have allowed a half-dozen other countries to dump illegally caught shrimp into U.S. markets at the expense of sea turtles.

The groups also said the certification program’s rules are applied inconsistently across countries and are poorly enforced. While some major shrimp exporters like India have improved compliance under closer monitoring, many other countries have either not adopted sea turtle protection rules or ignored their enforcement, they said.

Read the full article at E&E News

Wind developers bid $93M for mid-Atlantic — blowing off Trump 2.0 threat

August 19, 2024 — The Biden administration notched a much-needed win on Wednesday in its bid to bolster the offshore wind power industry, despite the industry’s recent setbacks and the threat of former President Donald Trump’s return.

An Interior Department auction to lease federal waters for wind projects off the coasts of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia drew nearly $93 million in bids — an amount that appeared to quell nerves about the industry’s ability to withstand its political and economic headwinds.

The U.S. offshore wind industry plays a central role in President Joe Biden’s targets to cut carbon emissions from the power sector and stave off the worst effects of climate change. But the nascent industry has been plagued by rising costs, supply chain constraints, worrisome accidents and the risk that Trump, who has spent years attacking wind power, could undermine its progress.

“Despite the electoral uncertainty in the future, these are strong signals of confidence and continued interest in this market,” said Sam Salustro, senior vice president of policy for the Oceantic Network, an offshore wind industry group.

Read the full article at Politico

VIRGINIA: Dominion ups investments in offshore wind energy as industry surges forward

August 16, 2024 — As President Joe Biden’s presidential term comes to a close, the administration is bearing down on its goal of 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy and 15 gigawatts of floating offshore wind by 2035.

As of 2021, the administration had approved two commercial-scale offshore wind projects, and seven have been approved within the past year.

As of 2023, only seven offshore wind turbines were providing power to American homes, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. This year has seen the addition of the 12-turbine South Fork Wind farm off the coast of New York and initial operations from Vineyard Wind 1 off the coast of Massachusetts.

Ten turbines delivered power to the grid until a test turbine broke and shed pieces of a 115,000-pound, 350-foot wind blade into the sea. Power generation and blade installation have been halted as debris continues to wash up on the shores of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard.

It’s been a busy summer for Virginia’s largest utility, Dominion Energy. This week, it announced the installation of the 50th monopile, or turbine foundation, of the long-anticipated Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project and the purchase of another 176,500-acre lease area east of the project.

Read the full article at The Center Square

Biden announces USD 34 million to modernize NOAA Fisheries

August 16, 2024 — U.S. President Joe Biden has unveiled plans to spend USD 34 million (EUR 31 million) on modernizing NOAA Fisheries’ workforce, infrastructure, and data efforts.

“NOAA Fisheries’ short-term data-modernization efforts will drive significant long-term changes by enhancing our capacity to deliver mission-critical information, meeting survey and fishery data requirements and transition into a modern data era,” NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Janet Coit said. “This investment aligns with NOAA Fisheries’ existing data work, supplements appropriated funding, and supports other regional priority efforts.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Biden-Harris Administration announces $34 million to modernize NOAA Fisheries’ data, infrastructure and workforce

August 15, 2024 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Today, the Biden-Harris Administration announced more than $34 million in Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funding towards grants, cooperative institutes, contracts and federal employment to modernize NOAA Fisheries’ data, infrastructure and workforce. This effort aims to meet the pace of climate-related mission demands and is a key component of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda. 

“Rapidly changing oceanic conditions, such as shifts in marine species’ distribution and abundance greatly impacts businesses and coastal communities that rely on these resources,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “This investment, made possible thanks to the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda, will help modernize data delivery in support of the nation’s $370 billion fishing industry. “

Across the U.S., NOAA is tackling the challenge of understanding and mitigating the impacts of climate change on coastal and marine resources, while striving to safeguard habitats, restore endangered species and build healthier and more resilient ecosystems. 

This investment will optimize workflows and integrate technological advancements such as cloud computing and Open Science solutions to ensure data accessibility. It will also fund training efforts to reskill the workforce — preparing them to adopt new technologies that provide open, accessible and responsive information systems that meet rapidly evolving mission demands associated with climate change. Modernizing NOAA Fisheries’ data systems will streamline access to digital information, giving fishing industry practitioners the real-time tools they need to make decisions and advance sustainability in the face of climate change.

“NOAA Fisheries’ short-term data modernization efforts will drive significant long-term changes by enhancing our capacity to deliver mission-critical information, meeting survey and fishery data requirements and transition into a modern data era,” said Janet Coit, assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries. “This investment aligns with NOAA Fisheries’ existing data work, supplements appropriated funding and supports other regional priority efforts.”

Projects will leverage longstanding cooperative institute partnerships with universities across the country to provide scientific and analytical expertise. Using advanced technology and integrating social science will create more accessible and dependable data collection platforms and tools for the future.  

NOAA Fisheries is beginning the distribution of these funds by awarding the organization Openscapes approximately $1 million to support the adoption of open science practices, which will help modernize the way NOAA Fisheries collaborates on data-intensive science and improve the efficiency and quality of their scientific products.

This funding is part of the historic $3.3 billion in Inflation Reduction Act investments to NOAA, first announced in June 2023, which is focused on ensuring America’s communities and economies are ready for and resilient to the effects of climate change. 

Visit the Inflation Reduction Act website to learn about current and future funding opportunities.

Public can help fight climate change with new grants for citizen science projects

August 5, 2024 — The public can now help even more in the ongoing climate change battle after the Biden-Harris Administration and NOAA unveiled hundreds of thousands of dollars available in grants for citizen science projects.

On Monday, the Department of Commerce and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced $600,000 in grants is being made available to members of the public to conduct science experiments that help fisheries and fishing communities prepare for climate change.

NOAA Fisheries will offer funding between $75,000 and $200,000 for three to eight projects during 2025/2026 chosen from applications that are now open to the public. The deadline to apply is Nov. 4, 2024.

NOAA says they are seeking proposals for citizen science projects in an effort to find gaps in data on the health of marine fish stocks and/or how fisheries and fishing communities could be impacted by changing environmental conditions.

Read the full article at Sustainable San Diego

Biden-Harris Administration, NOAA to provide $600,000 for citizen science

August 5, 2024 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Today, the Department of Commerce and NOAA announced a $600,000 funding opportunity for members of the public to conduct science that helps fisheries and fishing communities prepare for climate change. These funds are made possible by the Biden Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, the largest climate investment in U.S. history. 

NOAA Fisheries is seeking proposals for citizen science projects, marking a unique collaboration with members of the general public who will actively participate in the scientific process, alongside researchers, to address real-world questions. These projects aim to produce information that could help to address data gaps in assessing the health of marine fish stocks or how fisheries and fishing communities may be impacted by changing environmental conditions. 

By harnessing the power of citizen science, NOAA seeks to expand the breadth and depth of observations available, accelerating data collection and delivery. 

“Given the impacts of climate change on fisheries, it’s crucial to have a comprehensive understanding of shifts in commercial, recreational and subsistence fishing, as well as their associated communities,” said Janet Coit, assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries. “Observations from people living in affected communities, what we call citizen science, has the potential to give us a better understanding of climate impacts and help us navigate those challenges.”

These funds are expected to support three to eight different projects at approximately $75,000 to $200,000 per project during fiscal years 2025-2026. This research will help increase the number and types of observations NOAA can make, accelerating the collection and delivery of data, and contributing to timely and accurate management decisions for vulnerable species and sustainable fisheries.

How to apply for funding

Applications can be submitted through the Grants.gov website by 11/4/2024. Projects should be designed with scientific quality and data credibility as core considerations and are available to applicants including individuals, academic institutions, for-profit and nonprofit organizations, state governments and tribal and local organizations. Additional information for applicants is available on the NOAA Fisheries website.  

This funding opportunity follows NOAA Fisheries’ June 2023 announcement highlighting the agency’s intentions for $145 million of Inflation Reduction Act funds focused on transforming our data enterprise.

More: Visit NOAA’s NOAA’s Inflation Reduction Act web portal to learn about current and future funding opportunities.