The U.S. Marine Mammal Commission is requesting pre-proposals for our current Fiscal Year 2018 funding opportunity. The focal area for this year is "Community-driven conservation approaches to eliminate, manage, or mitigate threats to marine mammals". Marine mammals continue to face an array of threats ranging from fisheries, noise, and vessel traffic to environmental change. Conservation action is needed to eliminate, manage, or mitigate these threats. Successful conservation programs require not only an understanding of species and ecosystems, but also of the needs, values, perceptions, and cultures of the relevant human communities. Individuals need to become engaged, informed, and inspired to work toward altering human behavior. The Commission believes that increased awareness of examples of successful innovative, community-driven approaches to conservation will help. Proposals must include a component to evaluate the effectiveness of measures to eliminate, manage, or mitigate threats to marine mammals. Particular consideration will be given to proposals that include a social science component where it is shown how greater understanding of human interests and motivation can inform management and improve the effectiveness of conservation efforts. Proposals that are both empirically informed and linked to tangible management problems, and solutions, and that concern populations at extreme risk, may be given preference. Pre-proposal deadline: Thursday, January 11th 2018 11:59pm EST Notification of requests for full proposals: Monday, March 12th 2018 Full proposal submission deadline (invited applicants only): Monday, April 9th2018 Applicant notification: Monday, July 2nd 2018 More details can be found on the Commission's webpages below: Current funding opportunities: https://www.mmc.gov/grants-and-research-survey/current-funding-opportunities... Proposal requirements: https://www.mmc.gov/grants-and-research-survey/current-funding-opportunities... For questions or additional information, please contact Samantha Simmons, Acting Scientific Program Director (ssimmons@mmc.gov<mailto:ssimmons@mmc.gov>) or Dee Allen, Research Program Officer (dallen@mmc.gov<mailto:dallen@mmc.gov>). Dee Allen Research Program Officer Marine Mammal Commission 4340 East-West Highway, Suite 700 Bethesda, MD 20814-4498 301-504-0087 Follow us on Twitter: @MarineMammalCom Visit us online: www.mmc.gov<http://www.mmc.gov/> The Marine Mammal Commission is an independent agency of the U.S. Government.