NOAA's $4.6M Bycatch Fund: Full Proposals Due Jan 22

NOAA Fisheries has put up to $4.6 million for researchers, gear makers and fishing-industry teams working to cut bycatch — the fish, turtles, whales and seabirds caught by accident. Under the Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program (BREP) FY2026/27, 20 to 30 projects will win between $50,000 and $400,000 each. Full proposals are due 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday, 22 January 2027 — 69 days from today.

But read this first, because it changes who can still apply: the pre-proposal stage is already closed. Pre-proposals were mandatory and had to reach NOAA by 5:00 p.m. ET on Monday, 5 October 2026. NOAA states plainly in the funding notice that it will only consider a full proposal if a pre-proposal was submitted. So this is not an open door for brand-new applicants — it is a full-proposal guide for the teams already inside the competition, plus a clear picture of what to prepare for the next cycle. If you sent a pre-proposal in October, NOAA will tell you by Wednesday, 25 November 2026 whether your idea is encouraged or discouraged. Either way, you remain eligible to submit a full proposal.

BREP FY2026/27 at a glance

Detail	What the notice says
Programme	National Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program (BREP), FY2026/27
Agency	NOAA Fisheries (National Marine Fisheries Service), US Department of Commerce
Funding opportunity no.	NOAA-NMFS-FHQ-2027-33398 (Assistance Listing 11.452)
Total funding	Up to $4,600,000 in FY 2027
Awards	20–30 projects; $50,000–$400,000 per project
Funding type	Cooperative agreement (NOAA staff stay substantially involved)
Project length	12–18 months; earliest start date 1 August 2027
Pre-proposals	Required — closed 5 October 2026
Encouragement notices	By 25 November 2026
Full proposals due	11:59 p.m. ET, Friday 22 January 2027, via Grants.gov
Cost sharing	Not required
Programme contact	Justin Pearce, Office of Sustainable Fisheries — 301-427-8521, NMFS.HQ.BREP@noaa.gov

Why this money exists

Bycatch is one of the hardest problems in fisheries management. The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1865) requires NOAA to keep bycatch as low as practicable, and it created BREP specifically to fund the gear and the know-how that makes that possible. The notice is blunt about the stakes: bycatch can push stocks toward overfishing, harm threatened and endangered species, and even force commercial fisheries to close.

The programme funds applied research — not papers about the problem, but devices, gear modifications and fishing practices that can be tested on real boats and adopted at fleet scale. Preference goes to proposals built with U.S. industry and fishermen, and to work that answers the research priorities of Fishery Management Councils, NMFS regions and science centres, interstate commissions and marine mammal take-reduction teams.

The three priorities your proposal must hit

Every proposal must address at least one of the three priorities below, and name the one that fits best. The notice singles out the species and fisheries it cares about most.

Priority 1: Build new gear and better practices

Develop innovative technologies, gear modifications, avoidance programmes or improved fishing practices for commercial and recreational fisheries or aquaculture. The notice encourages work that reduces impacts on:

Overfished or constrained stocks — bigeye tuna, Pacific halibut, Gulf of Maine Atlantic cod, silky shark, striped marlin, Pacific herring, Pacific salmon, and king, snow and Tanner crab.
Protected species — large whales (humpback, gray, fin and blue), bottlenose dolphins, leatherback and loggerhead sea turtles in trap and pot fisheries; humpback whales, harbour porpoise, sea turtles, Atlantic sturgeon and smalltooth sawfish in gillnets; leatherback, loggerhead and olive ridley turtles, false killer whales, pilot whales, giant manta rays, scalloped hammerhead sharks and oceanic whitetip sharks in trawl and longline fisheries.
Subsistence fisheries whose target stocks are hurt by bycatch, and seabirds such as short-tailed, black-footed and Laysan albatross and spectacled and Steller’s eiders.

Priority 2: Scale up what already works

Further testing and development of technologies or gear modifications that have already been piloted and shown to cut bycatch — the step that turns a good trial into something a whole fleet will adopt, voluntarily or by regulation.

Priority 3: Cut deaths after release

Improve understanding and reduction of post-release and other indirect mortality — barotrauma, decompression sickness, predation, depredation and unaccounted mortality — especially in fisheries that are overfished or limited by bycatch constraints.

Who can apply — and what it means for Indian researchers

The notice lists eligible applicants as individuals, institutions of higher education, other nonprofits, for-profit organisations, and state, local, U.S. territorial, Alaska Native and Indian tribal governments. Federal agencies cannot receive funding under this competition, though federal scientists may join as uncompensated partners.

For Indian fisheries institutes, universities and gear innovators, the realistic route is partnership: the notice explicitly encourages applicants to build teams through subawards, contracts or unfunded collaborations, and NOAA’s own Alaska funding page also lists foreign public entities and foreign organisations among eligible applicants for this programme. If you are outside the United States, confirm your route with the programme contact — Justin Pearce, NMFS.HQ.BREP@noaa.gov — before investing weeks in a proposal. The science is global: turtle-excluder devices, circle hooks and bycatch-reduction devices developed for U.S. fisheries are directly relevant to Indian trawl, gillnet and longline fleets, and the bycatch problem is the same ocean.

How to apply: the full-proposal checklist

Full proposals go through Grants.gov and must also validate in eRA Commons. NOAA recommends submitting at least two business days before the deadline, because an application with unresolved eRA Commons errors will not be processed — and late submissions are not accepted for any reason, including registration delays.

Check your registrations now. You need three: SAM.gov (with a Unique Entity Identifier), Grants.gov and eRA Commons. NOAA warns registrations can take six weeks or longer — with 69 days to the deadline, start this week if you have not already.
Confirm your pre-proposal status. Only complete, timely pre-proposals count. NOAA’s encouragement or discouragement notice arrives by 25 November 2026 — but even a “discouraged” rating does not bar you from submitting a full proposal.
Prepare the federal forms: SF-424 (Application for Federal Assistance), SF-424A (Budget Information), SF-424B (Assurances) and CD511 (Certification Regarding Lobbying).
Write the project summary — one page: organisation, principal investigator, contact details, priority area, project title, objectives, summary of work and the federal funds requested for FY 2027 and FY 2028.
Write the project narrative — 15 pages maximum, double-spaced, at least 12-point font. It must cover the problem, objectives with measurable targets, a month-by-month milestone table, permits (Endangered Species Act, Marine Mammal Protection Act or a statement that none are required), expected impacts, why government funding is needed, related government programmes, and project management. Tables and figures count toward the 15 pages.
Assemble appendices — 15 pages maximum, including a Data Management Plan of up to two pages, plus resumes and letters of support. Anything beyond the page limits is disregarded.
Write the budget narrative — no page limit. Remember: cost sharing is allowed but not required and is not scored.
Submit on Grants.gov by 11:59 p.m. ET on 22 January 2027, then save the proof-of-submission messages from both Grants.gov and eRA Commons. If either acceptance message does not arrive, call the eRA Helpdesk (1-866-504-9552) and the programme contact immediately.

What makes a proposal win

Fishermen on the team. Preference is given to proposals with involvement or collaboration with U.S. industry and fishermen — a letter of support is good; a fishing partner testing your gear at sea is better.
Management relevance. Show exactly which council, region or commission priority your work answers, and how the result moves from research into regulation.
Measurable objectives. The notice asks for objectives that are specific, quantitative and tied to performance measures — “reduce sea turtle interactions in the Gulf shrimp trawl fishery by 30%” beats “study turtle bycatch”.
Permits in hand. If your work touches ESA- or MMPA-listed species, say so and show what steps you have taken to get the permits. If no permits are needed, state that explicitly — the section is mandatory either way.
Realistic timeline. Projects run 12–18 months starting on the first of a month, with the earliest start 1 August 2027. Plan your field season around that date, not around January.

Two honest caveats

First, the money is not yet certain. The notice says funding is contingent on FY 2026 and FY 2027 appropriations, the exact amount has not been determined, and the competition may be cancelled if funding is unavailable. Do not start spending in expectation of an award.

Second, the pre-proposal door is shut for this cycle. If you missed 5 October, do not waste time on a full proposal that NOAA will not review. Instead, use the next two months to build the fishermen partnerships and pilot data that make a strong pre-proposal next time — and watch the alternative below, which is still open to new applicants.

Missed BREP? NOAA’s other door is still open

NOAA Fisheries posted a separate FY 2027–2029 Broad Agency Announcement (NOAA-NMFS-FHQ-2027-33600) on 16 October 2026. It accepts proposals on a rolling basis until 30 September 2028 for research, education, outreach and innovative projects that fall outside NOAA’s competitive programmes — including fisheries and habitat work. There is no pre-proposal stage, and international organisations are listed among eligible applicants. The catch: proposals received after 31 March 2027 may not be funded in FY 2027, and awards generally start about six months after NOAA receives the application. If you have a fisheries idea and no BREP pre-proposal, this is the live route.

Frequently asked questions

Can I still apply to BREP if I did not submit a pre-proposal?
No. The notice is explicit: NOAA will only consider a full proposal if a pre-proposal was submitted, and late pre-proposals are not reviewed. Your route is the Broad Agency Announcement above, or the next BREP cycle.

Does “discouraged” mean I should not submit a full proposal?
No. NOAA says all applicants who submitted complete, timely pre-proposals and meet the requirements are eligible to submit full proposals, regardless of encouragement or discouragement. Treat the feedback as a guide to strengthening the proposal, not a rejection.

How much can I ask for?
Between $50,000 and $400,000 in federal funding per project. NOAA says it does not anticipate funding proposals above $400,000, and most projects will run up to one year within the 12–18 month window.

Do I need to put in my own money?
No. Cost sharing is not required and is not part of the evaluation criteria. You may include it, but it will not help or hurt your score.

When will I know if I won?
The notice does not give an award date. With full proposals due 22 January 2027 and the earliest project start 1 August 2027, expect review and negotiation across the first half of 2027.

Where do I get the official documents?
The full Notice of Funding Opportunity is on Grants.gov under opportunity number NOAA-NMFS-FHQ-2027-33398. NOAA Fisheries also published a programme bulletin summarising the call — links below.

NOAA’s $4.6M Bycatch Fund: Full Proposals Due Jan 22