The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) and NOAA Fisheries have announced $3.4 million in grants to advance electronic data collection and data modernization across U.S. fisheries. The funding will be matched by $4.2 million in contributions from grantees, bringing the total conservation impact to $7.6 million.
The 13 grants were awarded through the Electronic Monitoring and Reporting Grant Program (EMR Grant Program), a longstanding partnership between the two agencies. Projects span federal and state fisheries across Alaska, Alabama, California, Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, and Washington, as well as Puerto Rico.
Grant-funded projects will expand electronic monitoring and reporting to fisheries where it has not previously been used, deploy artificial intelligence aboard vessels to streamline data collection, and improve the speed and transparency of data reporting in some of the country's largest fisheries.
"By investing in emerging technologies, NOAA is continuing to provide fishermen with the high-tech tools necessary to ensure the long-term sustainability of our nation's seafood sources," said Eugenio Piñeiro Soler, Assistant Administrator for NOAA Fisheries. "These emerging technologies will improve data and increase the speed and transparency of information, allowing both managers and the fishing community to respond more effectively to the evolving challenges of our marine ecosystems."
NFWF executive director and CEO Jeff Trandahl said the investments are aimed at making fishery management both more effective and more efficient. The grants "will support the continued development of advancements in the use of artificial intelligence and other technologies to modernize how vital fisheries data are collected, shared, and analyzed," Trandahl said. "These conservation investments will benefit vital marine wildlife populations while also supporting more effective and efficient fishery management that will benefit the people and communities that rely upon them for their way of life."
The EMR Grant Program was established in 2015. Since then, it has awarded more than $40.6 million across 139 projects and generated an additional $58.6 million in conservation impact through matching contributions. Congress appropriated $3.5 million to NOAA Fisheries for the program's 2025–2026 grant cycle.
