Cooperative Agreement NA15NMF4630360

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) awarded the Marine Research Foundation (MRF) a $227,500 Marine Turtle Conservation Fund (CFDA 15.645) grant to mitigate bycatch of endangered sea turtles in shrimp trawl fisheries in Sarawak, Malaysia. The two-year project, commencing on August 1, 2024 and concluding on July 31, 2026, aims to introduce and provide turtle excluder devices (TEDs) to local fishers, raise their capacity to adapt TEDs to single and double net vessels, and develop enforcement...

The Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics Law Enforcement awarded a $148,083 Project Grant to the Environmental Justice Foundation Charitable Trust to support combating illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing and ending the illegal killing of, and trade in, sharks and rays in Indonesia through capacity building with journalists and civil society organizations. The grant falls under the Trans-National Crime federal grant program (CFDA 19.705), which aims to minimize the...

The U.S. Department of the Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service awarded a $158,600 project grant under the Marine Turtle Conservation Fund (CFDA 15.645) to Grupo Tortuguero De Las Californias, A.C., a nonprofit organization based in Mexico. The grant, awarded in August 2024, aims to build on the experience and momentum of the initial phase of the "MARES COMUNIDAD" project. The key objectives are to: 1) Design and facilitate structured knowledge exchange workshops to co-develop...

This $509,595.37 Project Grant was awarded by the U.S. Department of the Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service under the Combating Wildlife Trafficking (CFDA 15.679) federal grant program. The goal of the project is to address issues related to the illegal and unsustainable international trade of songbirds for use in singing competitions in Canada and the Netherlands. The project has four interconnected objectives: 1) understand the regulatory landscape and trade chain for songbird species native...

This cooperative agreement award of $299,100 from the Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration seeks to identify methods for protecting fish catches from whale depredation and develop low-cost protective designs that can be deployed using current longline fishing techniques. The International Pacific Halibut Commission will conduct a workshop with industry stakeholders to identify the top two or three catch protection designs. Functional prototypes of the selected...

This National Science Foundation (NSF) Biological Sciences (CFDA 47.074) grant award provides $817,942 to Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) to conduct research focused on advancing molecular and analytic tools to disrupt the illegal wildlife trade. The key research objectives include: Developing near real-time genetic identification capabilities for 185 shark, ray, and turtle species involved in illegal wildlife trafficking. Designing new machine learning frameworks and data labeling...

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (DOI) awarded a $530,290.58 Project Grant under the Combating Wildlife Trafficking program (CFDA 15.679) to Sustainable Innovation Initiatives, Inc. (SII) to address the trade in neotropical songbirds for singing competitions in Trinidad and Tobago and Suriname. The 3-year project, awarded on June 5, 2024, will be carried out in partnership with Green Heritage Fund Suriname, Wildlife People Suriname, and the University of the West Indies School of Veterinary...

This $426,026 Project Grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service will fund Traffic International to develop and implement a transparent and robust saiga antelope horn stockpile management system in Malaysia from October 1, 2022 to September 30, 2025. Key deliverables include establishing an electronic database and standard operating procedures for government and trader-held saiga horn stockpiles in four Malaysian states. The awardee will also assess stockpile...

The U.S. Department of the Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service awarded a $134,785.62 Cooperative Agreement to Birdlife International, a global non-profit conservation organization, under the Combating Wildlife Trafficking Federal Grant Program (CFDA 15.679). The project aims to enhance collaboration among recipients of the Species Conservation Catalyst Fund, strengthen their capacity, and raise public awareness to reduce illegal and unsustainable international songbird trade, with a focus on...

This Cooperative Agreement award is funded by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service through the Combating Wildlife Trafficking Federal Grant Program (CFDA 15.679). The $141,759 project, with a period of performance from August 1, 2024 to July 31, 2027, aims to contribute to the conservation of 10 songbird species targeted for illegal trade in northern Brazil. The key objectives are to characterize the songbird supply chain, examine demand, evaluate conservation strategies, and co-create...