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Ecosystem Health and Sustainable Fish Populations
Request for Preproposals
The mission of the GLFT is to provide funding to enhance,
protect, and rehabilitate Great Lakes
fishery resources to compensate for lost use and enjoyment caused by the
operation of the Ludington Pumped Storage Plant. Funding priorities
The Great Lakes Fishery Trust (GLFT) is inviting electronic
preproposals for Great
Lakes fisheries projects. The mission of the GLFT is to
provide funding to enhance, protect, and rehabilitate Great
Lakes fishery resources to compensate for lost use and
enjoyment caused by the operation of the Ludington Pumped Storage Plant.
Funding priorities in 2009 continue to reflect changes in the GLFT
strategic plan adopted by the Board of Trustees in 2005. This RFP
process will be used for the disbursement of up to $2.4 million in grants
in 2009.
Strategic Plan 2005
To help maintain the focus of the Trust, its strategic plan
was reviewed, updated, and adopted in 2005. This was the third update
since the GLFT’s inception in 1996. The
goal for the revision was to make the strategic plan a simple, clearly
organized, and focused picture of where the GLFT would like to go in a
reasonable time frame, with well-defined steps for attaining specific
outcomes. It also factors in what other organizations are doing and
provides clear guidance on partnerships to achieve common objectives. The
most significant change is that it integrates funding categories and
explores new themes, including habitat rehabilitation and invasive
species, and articulates a new policy and standards for land acquisition.
The GLFT will continue to periodically review and update its strategic
plan.
In an ongoing effort to expand the portfolio of projects
and researchers from the Great Lakes region and beyond, projects outside
of the Lake Michigan basin will be considered if their results and
outcomes are replicated in Lake Michigan.
While the GLFT’s primary objective is to
manage its resources to compensate for the lost use and enjoyment of the
Lake Michigan fishery resulting from the operation of the Ludington
Pumped Storage Plant, the GLFT encourages grant applications focusing on
issues and techniques in which the results of the projects will lead to a
better understanding and management of the Lake Michigan fishery.
Funding Priorities
The overarching goal of this RFP is to develop knowledge
and management capability through targeted and adaptive management
research to increase the predictability and sustainability of the Great Lakes fisheries and promote ecosystem health.
Proposal goals within these areas of study should be focused on
activities based upon the application of science, technology, and policy
that can lead to habitat enhancement and rehabilitation (see below
regarding research themes), promote sustainable fish populations, and
prevent the introduction and/or control the abundance and distribution of
invasive species. Moreover, since the GLFT board and Scientific Advisory
Team members represent either the agencies involved in the development of
the Lake
Michigan Fish-Community Objectives or the constituent organizations
that provide advice to state, federal, and provincial governments (under
the auspices of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission), the GLFT goals and related
grant outcomes are intended to be consistent with those objectives and
support the consensus already achieved. The GLFT will
- provide funding for projects that have
direct management implications (e.g., applied research or
development/enhancement of management tools);
- support basic research only when there is a
clear consensus that such efforts are essential to address a
critical issue facing fishery managers (basic research is work, of
an exploratory nature, conducted in order to acquire knowledge of
the underlying foundations of phenomena and observable facts without
any obvious practical application in view.); and
- encourage collaborative projects among researchers
and management organizations to address high-priority issues.
The GLFT recognizes that the goals stated above represent a
wide range of potential research activities, and highlights the research
themes below to assist in the preparation of preproposals.
- Research and related management activities consistent with the goals in the Lake Michigan Fish-Community Objectives, Environmental Objectives for Lake Michigan, and A Guide for the Rehabilitation of Lake Trout in Lake
Michigan.
- Habitat assessment, inventory, and classification
(Note: Habitat projects will not be funded under
this RFP. In 2006, the GLFT, in collaboration with the Great Lakes
Fishery Commission and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
funded a project titled “Identifying and quantifying critical
fisheries habitat for Great Lakes
lower riverine and nearshore
zones.” The goal of this project is to assess the type and
extent to which varying scientific and management techniques are
being employed to conduct habitat research and monitoring that
promotes sustainable fish populations and the relative level of
success of such efforts to meet objectives. The study is intended to
help funding organizations identify and establish collaborative
funding priorities related to habitat. Recommendations from the
project will be incorporated into the 2009 RFP.)
- Innovative research into effective means to
prevent the introduction of invasive species in the Great Lakes or to limit the range
and/or abundance of invasive, exotic species already present in the
Great Lakes
- Research that models critical ecosystem
components essential
to sustainable population management of the Great
Lakes fish species (e.g., lake sturgeon, lake trout,
salmonids, forage species)
- Research and analysis that documents the
contribution (economic, environmental, and/or social) of various
elements of the fishery
- Research and analysis that addresses the
mechanistic effects of Diporeia declines in the Great Lakes
Additionally, applicants are encouraged to focus on one or
more of these areas:
- Fish Health
- Projects that focus on fish diseases
that affect the growth, survival, reproduction, or use of a Great Lakes fish species (e.g.,
identification of potential triggers, factors influencing rates of
infection and mortality, transmission mechanisms, potential
controls, etc.)
OR
- Projects that focus on the diet of
a Great Lakes fish species and how
changes in food supply organisms may be significantly affecting the
growth, survival, or reproduction of a fish population (e.g., Diporeia
)
Recruitment
- Projects that describe and clarify
mechanisms—such as abiotic
conditions, predation, competition, fish health, or food-web
disruption—which control the reproduction and recruitment of Great Lakes fish species. While meritorious
proposals will be considered for any Great
Lakes fish species, special interest is placed on lake
trout within this research theme.
- Lake Sturgeon
Comprehensive lake sturgeon rehabilitation will likely only be
achieved on a basin-wide scale, either for one of the Great Lakes or the entire basin; thus
rehabilitation will require the coordination of multiple research
and management agencies. GLFT lake sturgeon funding will be used in
a basin-wide approach. All proposals under this research area must
be designed to foster the development of new or existing
partnerships among fishery agencies and researchers. Project
proposals should describe how the expected results would do the
following:
- Support the goals of existing
organizations established to coordinate research and management on
a basin-wide scale (such as the Great Lakes Fishery Commission lake
committee structure)
- Support the goals of existing
rehabilitation plans such as those reviewed in the GLFT-sponsored June 2000
and December
2002 lake sturgeon workshops
- Initiate broad partnership support for the
project
- Support projects that explore stocking
strategies recommended and endorsed by the Lake
Michigan Lake Sturgeon Task Group formed under the auspices of
the Great Lakes Fishery Commission
- Outreach: Synthesis and Dissemination of
Scientific Research
Projects
that synthesize and disseminate scientific information to other
researchers, policy makers, stakeholders, and the general public may
be funded under this research area either as standalone projects or
traditional research projects that incorporate communication and
dissemination strategies. The GLFT encourages the following
activities consistent with the GLFT priorities listed above:
- Collaborative determination of research
priorities
- Sharing of findings among Great Lakes researchers
- Sharing of findings between researchers,
management agencies, and stakeholders
- Conferences, seminars, and symposia
- Other communication strategies to ensure
broad dissemination of information to Great
Lakes researchers, management agencies, stakeholders,
and the general public
Project Size
There are no cost or time limitations on grant requests.
However, projects will be evaluated on the cost versus the expected
benefits as well as upon the reasonableness of the time requested to
complete the project.
Application Process
On Friday, December 12, you will be able to access the GLFT
e-GRANT Application System,
which will guide you through the preproposal
process and ensure you address all preproposal requirements.
The Great Lakes Fishery Trust will only accept preproposals submitted via our eGRANT
Application System on or before 5:01 P.M. EST on Monday January
26, 2009. Proposals that are not submitted using the GLFT’s eGRANT
Application System or are submitted after the January 26 deadline will
not be considered for funding.
Who Can Apply?
Proposals are encouraged from educational, governmental,
tribal, and nonprofit institutions with a 501(c)(3)
designation from the IRS. Canadian public and nonprofit organizations
may also be eligible but should contact GLFT staff prior to submitting a
proposal.
Review Process
The Scientific Advisory Team (SAT) consisting of 12 members
representing parties to the Settlement Agreement that established the
Trust (and other fishery scientists designated under the agreement) will
review the preproposals based upon the GLFT’s Guiding Principles and Funding Criteria and invite
full proposals, which will be due in April 2009. Full proposals will be
subjected to external peer review; the SAT will evaluate the full
proposals and peer reviews and make funding recommendations to the Board
of Trustees. Grants are targeted for award in August 2009.
Supplemental Information
This grant announcement, further information
on the GLFT, descriptions of projects previously funded by the GLFT, and
information regarding funding opportunities for other Great
Lakes fishery–related projects can be found on the
GLFT website, www.glft.org.
Additional
Questions
If after reviewing this information you have further
questions about the funding process, please contact Shivaugn Rayl, at (517) 371-7468.
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