Proactive Species Conservation Program

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The NMFS is seeking to provide federal assistance, in the form of grants or cooperative agreements, to support conservation efforts for the current list of federally identified Species of Concern (SOC) under the Proactive Species Conservation Program. The program supports voluntary conservation efforts designed to conserve marine and anadromous species before they reach the point at which listing as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) becomes necessary. Such proactive conservation efforts can serve as an efficient, non-regulatory, and cost-effective means of managing potentially at-risk species. To raise awareness of potentially at-risk species and to foster their proactive conservation, the NMFS created a 'species of concern' list in April 2004 (69 FR 19975). 'Species of concern' are species that are potentially at risk of becoming threatened or endangered or may potentially require protections under the ESA, yet for which sufficient data are lacking. The SOC status carries no procedural or regulatory protections under the ESA. The list of SOC and descriptions of each species are available at http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/concern/#list. Under this solicitation, any state, territorial, tribal, or local entity that has authority to manage or regulate these species or activities that affect these species is eligible to apply to this grant program. This document describes how to submit proposals for funding in fiscal year (FY) 2011 and how the NMFS will determine which proposals will be funded. This document should be read in its entirety, as some information has changed from the previous year.

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