Cooperative Agreement NA25NOSX473C0229

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration awarded a Cooperative Agreement of $3.476 million to the Gulf of America Alliance on October 1, 2025, under the Office for Coastal Management program (CFDA 11.473). The funding, provided through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, supports the Gulf of America Alliance to conduct robust stakeholder collaboration across the Gulf region, assess gaps in ecosystem health and coastal community resilience, and implement phased initiation of projects addressing data sharing and integrated management of ocean and coastal resources. The Alliance will identify partner expertise and existing information needed to support improved ecosystem health, enhanced coastal community resilience, and increased data sharing and integration of federal and non-federal data.

The ultimate completion date is November 30, 2027, with $4.476 million obligated. Place of performance is Ocean Springs, Mississippi.

Five sub-recipients deliver complementary work under this award. Mississippi State University (awarded September 4, 2026) evaluates the physical effects of living shorelines and hardened structures on neighboring properties and communicates findings to private property owners, natural resource managers, and regulators. Mississippi State University also leads a second sub-award (June 29, 2026) to align the Waters to the Sea Gulf Coast Adventure and Gulf Literacy Principles with existing educational resources and build an online professional development platform for teachers across Gulf States, with materials transferred to open-access platforms upon completion. The Nature Conservancy (awarded May 27, 2026) conducts situation analysis and capacity-building to protect and manage wetland migration space in tidal areas through voluntary conservation programs and local planning integration. Auburn University (awarded April 30, 2026) investigates temporal effects of septic system failures on water quality through long-term, high-frequency sampling in Alabama and Florida over two summer periods. Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi deploys advanced tagging technologies to identify mako shark movement patterns and assess population connectivity (awarded February 26, 2026) and coordinates interstate and intertribal management of ocean and coastal resources with the Wildlife and Fisheries Team (awarded December 2, 2025).