In 2025, the Florida RESTORE Act Centers of Excellence Program (FLRACEP), administered by the Florida Institute of Oceanography (FIO), awarded over $4 million to four multidisciplinary teams to address critical research gaps in the De Soto Canyon and adjacent West Florida Shelf and escarpment. Ecosystems that play a central role in Gulf productivity yet remain poorly characterized. These projects directly integrate physical, biological, and technological methods that help us to understand how complex bathymetry, water-column dynamics, and habitat structure influence biodiversity and ecosystem function. Together, the studies will generate important new insights into mesophotic coral connectivity, deep-sea fish community dynamics, the behavior and prey fields of the endangered Rice’s whale, and the influence of upwelling and riverine inputs on midwater productivity. Using autonomous technologies, passive and active acoustics, and advanced ocean circulation models, researchers will address long-standing data gaps while improving near-real-time monitoring capabilities. The resulting data and syntheses will directly inform management and conservation strategies; advancing ecosystem-based approaches to fisheries management, refining protected species assessments, and improving predictive models that support dynamic decision-making in a changing climate. By combining research with applications, FLRACEP RFP V exemplifies how directed Gulf science, leads to discovery, and translates into stewardship. This presentation will highlight how the FLRACEP RFP V exemplifies collaborative, co-produced science that connects research, technology, and resource management to improve understanding and stewardship of the De Soto Canyon and the northeastern Gulf ecosystems.