Sec. 1003. Grants for recovering oysters
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The Administrator shall establish a grant program (in this section referred to as the Program ) under which the Administrator shall award grants to eligible entities for the purpose of conducting research on the conservation, restoration, or management of oysters in estuarine ecosystems. To be eligible to receive a grant under this section, an eligible entity shall submit to the Administrator an application at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Administrator may require.
The Administrator shall award a grant under the Program to eligible entities that submit an application under subsection (b). Except as provided in subparagraph (B), the total amount of Federal funding received under the Program by an eligible entity may not exceed 85 percent of the total cost of the research project for which the funding was awarded. For the purposes of this subparagraph, the non-Federal share of project costs may be provided by in-kind contributions and other noncash support.
The Administrator may waive all or part of the requirement in subparagraph
(A)if the Administrator determines that no reasonable means are available through which an eligible entity applying for a grant under this section can meet such requirement and the probable benefit of such research project outweighs the public interest in such requirement. The Administrator shall ensure, to the maximum extent practicable, that grant funding under this section is apportioned according to the historic baseline oyster population of each estuary of the United States. In this section, the following definitions apply: The term academic community means faculty, researchers, professors, and representatives of State-accredited colleges and universities. The term eligible entity means a member of the academic community, the seafood industry, a relevant nonprofit organization, or a relevant State agency, that is proposing or conducting a research project on the conservation, restoration, or management of oysters in an estuarine ecosystem developed through consultation with a member of the academic community, a member of the seafood industry, a relevant nonprofit organization, or a relevant State agency. The term historic baseline means the estimated population of oysters in an estuary in 1850. The term nonprofit organization means an organization described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and exempt from tax under section 501(a) of such Code. The term seafood industry means shellfish growers, shellfish harvesters, commercial fishermen, and recreational fishermen. There is authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator $6,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2021 through 2025 to carry out this section.