NOAA Marine Debris Program — Grants

Enriched government · Found: 2026-03-14 20:24

Government Grant Global Marine Conservation Plastic Waste Pollution Waste Management
Funder: NOAA Marine Debris Program (US)
US federal marine debris removal and interception grants. FY2025 up to USD 54 million. Primarily US-focused. FY2026 not yet announced. Low probability for Danish NGO but large envelope.

Source: https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/resources/funding-opportunities

Funding Details

Funder
NOAA Marine Debris Program
Funding Goal
Competitive grants for projects addressing marine debris prevention, removal, monitoring, research, and education in US waters and coastlines. The current open opportunity funds large marine debris removal — including derelict fishing gear — from remote and hard-to-reach marine environments of the United States, including the Great Lakes.
Funding Amount
Current open opportunity: individual projects $50,000 – $200,000 (total $2.2M pool administered by Ocean Conservancy). NOAA's own competitive grants vary by round. (50.000 € – 200.000 €)
Deadline
2026-05-31 (Fixed)
How to Apply
Current open opportunity: submit proposals by May 31, 2026 at 5:00 PM EDT through Ocean Conservancy's Large Marine Debris Removal Project. Visit Ocean Conservancy's website for application details. NOAA's own funding opportunities are announced via a monthly newsletter and grants.gov.
Target Region
United States (all US marine environments and Great Lakes); programme is exclusively US-domestic
Contact
marinedebris.web@noaa.gov | Sign up for NOAA Marine Debris Program monthly newsletter for future funding alerts
Last Checked
2026-04-21 07:25

Application Checklist

Eligibility
Project Scope
Required Documents
Constraints

Summary

The NOAA Marine Debris Program is a US federal programme operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under the Marine Debris Act. It offers periodic competitive funding for marine debris prevention, removal, monitoring, research, and education. The programme publishes Notices of Funding Opportunity and maintains a funding opportunities webpage that aggregates both NOAA's own grants and sub-grants from partner organisations. The current open opportunity at the time of assessment is a sub-grant administered by Ocean Conservancy using 2024 NOAA funding. Ocean Conservancy is seeking proposals for up to $2.2 million in grants to remove large marine debris — including derelict fishing gear — from remote and hard-to-reach marine environments of the United States, including the Great Lakes. Individual project awards range from $50,000 to $200,000. Proposals are due May 31, 2026 by 5:00 PM EDT. Thematic priorities across NOAA's programme include derelict fishing gear removal, coastal cleanup, prevention education, marine debris monitoring and assessment, emergency response, and international collaboration. All geographic scope is within US jurisdictional waters and US territories — the programme explicitly covers Alaska, California, the Caribbean, the Great Lakes, the Gulf of America, the Mid-Atlantic, the Northeast, the Pacific Islands, the Pacific Northwest, and the Southeast. Eligible applicants for NOAA's competitive grants historically include US non-profit organisations, research institutions, state and local government agencies, tribes, and occasionally international partners for international collaboration components. The current Ocean Conservancy sub-grant is open through their application portal. Applicants must demonstrate capacity to access and remove large debris from remote marine environments. For non-US organisations such as Danish NGOs, this programme is not directly accessible: eligibility is restricted to US-focused projects and US domestic entities. There is no indication of open calls for international applicants. The programme's international collaboration work is conducted by NOAA directly rather than through open grant competitions.

Historical Context

NOAA Marine Debris Program is a long-running US federal programme established under the Marine Debris Act. It regularly issues competitive funding rounds for marine debris projects across US regions. The current opportunity uses 2024 NOAA funding channelled through Ocean Conservancy as an intermediary grantmaker.

Why it was added

grant-scan-2026-03-14-plastic-initiatives

Sources

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