President Trump’s recommendations on discretionary funding levels for fiscal year (FY) 2026, also known as the “skinny budget,” reduced NOAA’s total budget by at least $1.52 billion, with $1.31 billion of that reduction coming from “climate-dominated research, data, and grant programs.” The budget also called for moving parts of the National Marine Fisheries Service into the U.S. Department of Interior, cancelling NOAA contracts for climate measuring instruments and eliminating the Marine Mammal Commission.
The budget presented by the White House is simply its recommendations to Congress. While members take this in to account, Congress usually works to craft its own budget and largely ignores the administration’s recommendations. Let’s hope this continues to be the case.
Small businesses, commercial fishermen and recreational anglers depend on NOAA to protect fish populations, manage federal fisheries, and safeguard ecologically important habitat. Without these essential functions, marine ecosystems and the livelihoods that they support are at risk. The Network believes NOAA requires consistent and dedicated funding at mission-achievable levels of no less than FY24 amounts. Anything less would endanger the intergenerational fishing culture that forms the economic and social fabric of the coastal United States.
As Robert Vandermark, the Network’s executive director put it:
President Trump’s proposed reductions to NOAA’s budget would destabilize thriving American coastal economies and communities. The long-term success of America’s fishing and seafood industries depends on timely, accurate, and reliable research and data to sustainably manage U.S. oceans and fisheries. Without accurate accounts of how fish stocks are faring or how changing ocean environments are impacting fishing opportunities, for example, fisheries managers can’t have the information they need to prevent overfishing or adjust regulations to account for shifting fish populations, which could severely impact the businesses and industries that depend on these marine resources. Congress should fully fund NOAA’s work to support science-based fisheries and ocean management, which is crucial to America’s fishing future.
Budget proposals like this fit squarely in the “penny-wise, pound foolish” category and do not look at the bigger picture. Congress must look carefully at how these cuts would impact this nation’s fishing communities’ and seafood sector’s ability to prosper now and into the future.
