This is a two-stage competition, with preproposals and full proposals.  Each has specific guidance and deadlines, stated in the announcement.  As stated in the announcement, applicants must submit a preproposal in order to be eligible to submit a full proposals.  Please pay careful attention to the instructions and contact your state Sea Grant Program as soon as possible to discuss proposals.
 
Dates: The deadline for receipt of preproposals via electronic mail at the National Sea Grant Office is 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time on February 7, 2012.

Please see the announcement for full details.

Funding Opportunity Description: Depending on the availability of funds, NOAA expects to have approximately $3,200,000 available for a national competition to fund marine aquaculture research projects for FY 2012. This is part of the overall plan to support the development of environmentally and economically sustainable ocean, coastal, or Great Lakes aquaculture. Aquaculture that occurs in the Great Lakes or its coastal zone is considered marine aquaculture for this competition. Priorities for this FY 2012 competition include: Research to inform specific regulatory decisions; Research that supports multi-use spatial planning; and Socio-economic research targeted to understand aquaculture in a larger context. Proposals must be able to express how the proposed work will have a high probability of significantly advancing U.S. marine aquaculture development in the short-term (1-2 years) or medium-term (3-5 years).

Read the full announcement