The Marine Biology (MB; formerly the Marine Mammal & Biology) program provides a warfighting advantage by enhancing understanding of marine species distribution and abundance for tactical and operational ocean battlespace dominance. Critical biological data and insights into marine environments inform Navy tactical oceanography by improving predictive models and enhancing operational awareness. Furthermore, the MB program bolsters Navy operational oceanography by providing data on marine species behavior and distributions, improving oceanographic models used for operational planning and risk assessments.
Strategically, the MB program preserves Navy readiness and ensures legal compliance during at-sea activities through proactive measures. ONR's MB Program directly supports these measures by funding research that investigates the impacts of naval activities on marine species at the behavioral, physiological, ecological, and population levels. This research-driven approach aims to refine regulatory requirements, focusing them on specific, demonstrable risks to ultimately reduce the overall regulatory burden while ensuring robust environmental protection. Robust scientific data can inform, support, and ensure military readiness of both current and future U.S. Naval activities, while mitigating the potential impact of training and testing activities on marine species. As an outcome, improved domain awareness and Navy readiness at a large scale will ensure the U.S. Navy’s at-sea testing and training requirements are informed by accurate, up-to-date, and comprehensive scientific data of the baseline conditions in which they operate.
Research Concentration Areas
Theoretical, field observation, experimental modeling, and technology development approaches are used to enhance marine species monitoring in the following three primary focus areas:
- Monitoring and Detection – Improve tactical readiness with situational awareness of marine species distribution and abundance to inform immediate tactical decisions and operational readiness with accurate and timely information on current and future marine species distribution and abundance over larger scales and longer time periods.
- eDNA: New technologies, like eDNA, offer a powerful tool to discover, map, and monitor marine species in the maritime domain. Realizing the full potential of eDNA applications will require research and technological development including the estimation of species abundance, implementation of autonomous eDNA technology, and integration of eDNA products with other types of observations.
- Baseline Ecology - Investigating the patterns and causes of variability in the distribution and abundance of marine species over space and time to better inform and support tactical and operational forecasting.
- Sensing and Tag Development: This includes the invention and early-stage development of new sensing technology with the goal of improving our understanding of the behavior, distribution and movements of marine species.
- Effects of Sound on Marine Life - Characterizing the behavioral, physiological, and population-level consequences of disturbance on marine species supports proactive environmental compliance and informs refined, risk-based regulatory requirements, reducing the overall burden while ensuring robust environmental protection and military readiness.
ONR MB also supports the early-stage development of new technology or major improvements to existing technology in the above focus areas to meet Navy’s monitoring requirements. The MB Program is open to receiving planning letters (or pre-proposals) for any research that addresses the three focus areas above.
Research Challenges and Opportunities
Pre-proposals due: 15 July 2026
Invitation full proposal: August/September 2026
Full proposals due: September/October 2026 (unless otherwise negotiated)
Proposal review/selection/notification: October 2026 - February 2027
Proposal funding date: November 2026 forward (depending on when we know our budget)
For More Information
- MMB had a program review April 22-25, 2024. (Download the Program Review Abstract Book.)
- MMB had a program review April 23 -26, 2019. (Download the Program Review Abstract Book.)
- MMB had a program review on September 11, 2017. The topic covered was diving physiology (download the Program Review Abstract Book).
- MMB hosted a program review on March 20-23, 2017. Topics covered included monitoring and detection; integrated ecosystems, sensor and tag development, effects of sound/hearing, effects of sound/physiology, and models and databases (download the Program Review Abstract Book).
How to Submit
For detailed application and submission information for this research topic, please refer to our broad agency announcement (BAA) No. N0001425SB001.
Contracts: All white papers and full proposals for contracts must be submitted through the ONR Submission Portal; instructions are included in the BAA.
Grants: All white papers for grants must be submitted through the ONR Submission Portal, and full proposals for grants must be submitted through grants.gov; instructions are included in the BAA.
Proposal Guidelines
Important Notice: Upon submitting any documents to MB by email or Grants.gov, submitters will receive a confirmation email from the MB program office. If a confirmation email is NOT received, contact the MB point of contact to verify receipt.