Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with Great Rivers Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit | G21AS00501

Opportunity Information: Apply for G21AS00501

This funding opportunity, issued by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) under the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) Program, supports research aimed at testing whether an oblique bubble screen system can function as a true two-way dispersal barrier for invasive carp in river systems. The core problem the project is trying to solve is that a barrier is only fully useful if it works in both directions: it must intercept and manage early life stages that drift with the current (eggs and larvae moving downstream), while also stopping or discouraging adult fish that actively swim upstream and may be highly motivated to pass through.

The research focus is on evaluating how well an oblique bubble screen can redirect and capture invasive carp eggs and larvae as they move downstream. In many rivers, eggs and larvae are carried by flow, so the barrier has to do more than simply block; it needs to steer drifting material into a location where it can be collected or removed. At the same time, the barrier must also prevent or deter upstream passage by adult carp, which is a different biological and engineering challenge because adults can actively seek pathways through, around, or over deterrent systems. The intent is to generate evidence about whether this type of barrier can serve both roles at once, rather than acting as a one-way or life-stage-specific control tool.

Although the USGS states interest in a barrier that could work for all four major invasive carp species in the United States, the laboratory testing emphasized in this opportunity is expected to concentrate on grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella). The rationale is practical and strategic: the work is meant to build directly on prior experiments and findings (referenced as Prada et al. 2018 and 2020), and grass carp are currently the only invasive carp species confirmed to be actively reproducing in the Great Lakes Basin. That reproductive activity increases urgency, because it means the species is not only present but capable of sustaining populations locally, making effective containment and dispersal control more important.

Administratively, this is a discretionary financial assistance award using a cooperative agreement, which typically means USGS anticipates substantial involvement with the recipient during the project (for example, coordinating on study design, methods, deliverables, or interpretation). The opportunity falls under the Science and Technology and other Research and Development activity category and is associated with CFDA number 15.808. Eligibility is limited to organizations that are official partners in the Great Rivers CESU, reflecting the CESU model where federal agencies collaborate with a defined network of partner institutions to deliver applied research, technical assistance, and education that supports resource management needs.

Key details from the listing include the funding opportunity number G21AS00501, an award ceiling of $245,000, and an original closing date of May 19, 2021. The opportunity was created on April 28, 2021, and it is offered by the USGS (Department of the Interior). Overall, the grant is designed to produce actionable, laboratory-based evidence on whether oblique bubble screens can serve as an integrated, two-way barrier technology to reduce the spread and establishment of invasive carp by addressing both drifting early life stages and upstream-moving adults.

• The Geological Survey in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with Great Rivers Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.808.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2021-04-28.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2021-05-19. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $245,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for G21AS00501

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