Saving Seafood

Biden wants 25 percent funding increase for NOAA

April 15, 2021 — U.S. President Joe Biden has called on Congress to give the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration a more than 25 percent increase in funding for the 2022 fiscal year.

In a letter to Senate Appropriations Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) on 9 April, Acting Director for the Office of Management and Budget Shalanda Young requested USD 6.9 billion (EUR 5.8 billion) for the agency. That’s USD 1.4 billion (EUR 1.2 billion) more than the agency received for this current budget year.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

WASHINGTON: Fisheries finally get $8.4M aid with help of Murray, Cantwell

May 4, 2020 — After funds were held up for two years, Washington tribes and fishing communities will receive more than $8.4 million in fishery disaster assistance.

Washington Democratic Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell helped include the funding in a 2018 spending bill, according to a press release. However, the funds were held up by the Office of Management and Budget.

Murray and Cantwell sent a letter to the acting OMB director earlier this month, urging him to distribute the funds.

Read the full story at The Daily News

SEAN HORGAN: Trump looking to ax NOAA budget

March 20, 2017 — Fresh from battering the Trump administration like a pinata over its (rescinded) plan to whack the U.S. Coast Guard budget to the tune of $1.3 billion, Washington D.C.’s loyal opposition now is taking up the cause of — wait, can this be right? — NOAA.

A dozen congressional members from coastal communities throughout the U.S. are lobbying the Office of Management and Budget to reconsider the proposed cuts of $990 million, or about 17 percent, to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s total budget.

Cape Ann’s congressman, U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Salem, is a signatory on a letter to OMB Director Mick Mulvaney pointing out that the cuts could have a devastating impact on coastal communities battling sea rise and other extreme weather events.

“To disarm our coastal communities, many of which are already experiencing first-hand the effects of severe weather, is dangerous and short-sighted,” the letter stated.

The letter also decried the proposed $513 million in cuts to the National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service and the gutting of the Sea Grant college program.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times