This award will support functions of the national fish and wildlife foundation (nfwf) for the development of an electronic monitoring and reporting program with multiple funding partners

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) awarded the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) a $7.0 million Cooperative Agreement under the Cooperative Research Program (CFDA 11.472), effective May 1, 2026, through June 30, 2030. This award supports NFWF's development and administration of a 2025 grant program designed to advance regional electronic monitoring and reporting (EM&R) initiatives across the nation's marine fisheries. The program will solicit and fund proposals from fisheries managers, industry stakeholders, non-governmental organizations, and other regional partners to develop and implement promising electronic technologies that improve the timeliness and quality of fisheries data collection.

Through this cooperative agreement, NFWF will serve as the grant administrator and program operator, leveraging its established expertise in conservation funding and multi-stakeholder coordination. The primary deliverables include the competitive solicitation and selection of regional EM&R projects, provision of technical assistance to awardees, and program management and evaluation services. By integrating advanced technologies into fisheries data collection and observations, the program aims to support the nation's sustainable fisheries goals while empowering fishermen and citizens to participate more actively in systematic data collection processes that strengthen fisheries assessments and ecosystem management.

Nfwf preserves and restores the nation's native wildlife species and habitats by directing public conservation funds to the most pressing environmental needs and matches those investments with private funds. The foundation's method is to work with a full complement of individuals, foundations, government agencies, nonprofits, and corporations to identify and fund the nation's most intractable conservation challenges. Specifically, this program will develop a 2025 grant program to assist fisheries managers, industry, ngos, and other stakeholders in the nation's marine fisheries with the development and implementation of regional electronic monitoring and reporting programs. This program will advance the nation's sustainable fisheries goals to partner with fishermen and other stakeholders to systematically integrate technology into fisheries data collections and observations. Over the course of the program, nfwf will solicit proposals that advance implementation of promising electronic technologies that improve the timeliness of fisheries data, increase knowledge of the fisheries, and empower fishermen and other citizens to become more actively involved in the data collection process.