NOAA OAR, Department of Commerce Grant for Pacific Ocean Exploration and Research

The NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research (OER), also known as NOAA Ocean Exploration, is soliciting proposals to conduct or support ocean exploration resulting in outcomes that provide or enable initial assessments about unknown or poorly understood regions of U.S. waters. This funding opportunity will focus on the outcomes of the Workshop to Identify National Ocean Exploration Priorities in the Pacific hosted by the Consortium for Ocean Leadership (COL) in 2020 in partnership with OER. Proposals should support the ocean exploration topical priorities or spatial priorities in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) identified in the “Report on the Workshop to Identify National Ocean Exploration Priorities in the Pacific” (https://oceanleadership.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/OceanExploration_PacificPriorities_WorkshopReport_NOV2020.pdf).

Proposals should also support the National Strategy for Mapping, Exploring, and Characterizing the United States Exclusive Economic Zone (national strategy, https://oeab.noaa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-national-strategy.pdf). Proposals for the ocean exploration and marine archaeology themes must be for projects in unknown or poorly understood areas as referenced in the national strategy’s implementation plan (https://oeab.noaa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-national-strategy-implementation.pdf) and within the U.S. EEZ in the Pacific Ocean.

The Pacific priorities workshop report stresses the active awareness of the cultural context in which ocean exploration is often conducted. Recognizing the unique and numerous Pacific communities as partners and stakeholders enhances the overall impact of the ocean exploration enterprise through wider public support, a more diverse workforce and community of practitioners, and incorporation of traditional knowledge systems throughout the process. Applicants should consider including the interests of tribal nations and Indigenous peoples within targeted exploration areas and engaging these communities in a meaningful way.