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NOAA Fisheries Awarded $10.28 Million to Pacific Islands Region Projects

September 18, 2023

Projects will support NOAA Fisheries efforts to achieve healthy marine ecosystems and recover threatened and endangered species.

A bird's-eye-view of eleven people on a canoe over clear blue waters. Students aboard the sailing canoe Kūmau learn the important connection between ʻaina (land) and kai (sea). This project involved 42 students and wrapped up in 2023. Credit: Nā Kama Kai

In fiscal year 2023, NOAA Fisheries Pacific Islands Regional Office awarded approximately $10.28 million to 32 projects via grants and cooperative agreements. The projects support our efforts to achieve healthy marine ecosystems. They focus on:

  • Stability for fisheries resources
  • Recovery of threatened and endangered species
  • Enhanced opportunities for commercial, recreational, and cultural activities in the marine environment

Awardees include 25 U.S. and international agencies whose projects span American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Hawai‘i, and other U.S. Pacific Islands.

Examples of project activities include:

  • Conducting community outreach to engage underserved communities
  • Restoring loko iʻa (Hawaiian fishponds) and native wetlands
  • Repairing and improving boat ramps for local fishermen
  • Collecting and assessing fishery data to support sustainable fishery management
  • Protecting and monitoring leatherback and hawksbill turtle nesting beaches

We will continue to work with communities to develop innovative projects that help us steward living marine life through science-based conservation and management.

View the 2023 Federal Programs Office Annual Report to learn about our funding programs and this year’s projects. We are excited to see what these awards will accomplish!

Students and staff together restoring habitat in the Loko ea fishpond while holding a big net.
Students engage in traditional aquaculture in Loko ea fishpond, located in the Kawailoa ahupuaʻa (traditional land division) of Oʻahu. This project ended in 2023 and involved 42 keiki (children) and 60 adults, 74 of whom identify as Native Hawaiian. Credit: Mālama Loko Ea Foundation.

Last updated by Pacific Islands Regional Office on September 19, 2023