Massachusetts Department Of Fish And Game

The Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game Division of Marine Fisheries operates as a state government entity providing marine resource management, fisheries research, data collection, and boating infrastructure services to federal agencies as a prime grant recipient. The division is a child entity within The Commonwealth of Massachusetts and competes predominantly under full-and-open federal grant programs (95% of recent awards are prime grants) rather than contract set-asides; it does not hold SBA designations.

The division's federal footprint centers on fisheries research, conservation, and recreational boating infrastructure funded through NOAA and DOI grant programs. Representative recent work includes a $1.647 million Clean Vessel Act (CFDA 15.616) project grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (effective July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2029) for installation and operation of comprehensive pumpout services across Massachusetts' 1,500 miles of navigable rivers and coastline, a $389,391 Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act (CFDA 11.474) project grant from NOAA (October 1, 2025, through September 30, 2029) for collection and management of fisheries-dependent landings data and software modernization for permitting and data collection systems, a $374,981 Sportfishing and Boating Safety Act (CFDA 15.622) project grant from DOI for Fall River boating infrastructure development (January 1, 2026, through December 31, 2028), and a $236,484 Sport Fish Restoration (CFDA 15.605) formula grant from USFWS Region 5 (April 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027) for grant management system implementation supporting $1.6 million in annual apportionments.

Customer concentration is heavily skewed toward NOAA and DOI. The Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration anchors 72 awards worth $2.9 million in combined potential value, while the Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service and its regional office (Region 5) account for 75 awards combined. These three customer agencies represent 93% of award count. The Environmental Protection Agency Region 1 and the Department of Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Service round out the active federal customer base, with the latter funding a $1.104 million pandemic relief block grant (CFDA 10.181) for COVID-19 response payments to Massachusetts seafood processors and wholesale dealers (awarded January 24, 2022, completed January 24, 2024).

Activity has grown in recent years — three awards in 2022, three in 2023, ten in 2024, five in 2025, and four in 2026 through July. Seven awards carrying completion dates within the next twenty-four months face recompete exposure. The division also acts as a sub-recipient on eight federal grants, receiving sub-awards from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission for marine recreation information program data collection, right whale and lobster fishery research, and Atlantic herring disaster relief; from Roger Williams University for culvert removal design and permitting; from the University of Massachusetts at Boston for eelgrass seed restoration infrastructure; and from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for socioeconomic modeling of on-demand lobster fishing gear systems. The division's capability portfolio spans fisheries-dependent and fisheries-independent monitoring, genetic stock identification, age and growth analysis, recreational boating infrastructure development, and grant administration and compliance — work concentrated under NOAA (72 awards) and DOI FWS (48 awards) with embedded research and technical assistance roles in interstate fisheries management and endangered marine species protection.