Updates:
- The application period for this grant closed on November 18, 2022. Successful applicants were announced by the Healey-Driscoll Administration on June 30, 2023.
The Massachusetts Environmental Economic Innovation and Resiliency in Marine Fisheries Grant Program allowed for awards of up to $100,000 per project. A total of $1,666,667 is available through this grant program as approved in H.4269, “An Act Relative to Immediate COVID-19 Recovery Needs. Applicants should have experience and significant ties to the commercial fishing, seafood, and/or aquaculture industries, or to the marine engineering, environmental monitoring, or technology development industries.”
Accepted proposals support the commercial fishing, seafood, and/or aquaculture industries through the development, utilization, and promotion of innovative approaches to enhance environmental benefits and encourage increased economic activity. Projects could be specific to a species or region and/or part of a larger undertaking. Priority was given to those proposals that aided in mitigating economic barriers resulting from climate change and generated the greatest good for the Commonwealth. Project outcomes, technologies developed, and data collected will be shared with relevant industries, as well as local and state natural resource managers. All chosen projects must be completed by June 30, 2025.
Application for funds
DMF issued a request for response (RFR) for grant proposals that benefit the Massachusetts commercial fishing industry. In compliance with the budget language, grants were capped at $100,000 and focused on “innovative approaches to enhance environmental benefits and encourage increased economic activity” in the following categories:
- capital infrastructure improvements that promote energy efficiency;
- the purchase or expanded use of renewable energy technologies;
- tools to address barriers to economic growth, including business management technical assistance and the purchase of more efficient equipment and technology;
- tools, technologies, and technical assistance to support practices that promote resilience against the impacts of climate change;
- tools and technologies to facilitate sustainability and new product development;
- research development, acquisition, and purchase of innovative commercial fishing gear designed to protect stocks and species of concern including, but not limited, to the North Atlantic right whale; and
- direct marketing and branding of products to consumers