May 7, 2025 — Businessman Howard Lutnick provided a seemingly straightforward answer when a Democratic senator asked him earlier this year whether he was considering moving NOAA Fisheries out of NOAA.
“No,” Lutnick said.
Strictly speaking, Lutnick’s written answer to a question posed by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) still holds up. Since his confirmation as Commerce secretary, Lutnick has not proposed a wholesale relocation of NOAA Fisheries.
But as part of its new fiscal 2026 budget proposal, the Trump administration revived a proposal to move to the Interior Department the NOAA Fisheries office that handles Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act issues.
The partial merger has been floated before, but it’s never gone very far. If the Trump administration is serious about pursuing the idea now, it will confront entrenched bureaucracies, congressional turf conflicts and a lot of very serious questions, former officials and advocacy organization leaders predict.
“It seems consolidating ESA functions would make sense to ensure consistent application of the law,” said Greg Sheehan, former FWS deputy director in the first Trump administration.