Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Lightning strikes Vineyard Wind’s broken offshore wind blade

March 4, 2025 — In what appears to be a remarkable coincidence, lightning apparently struck the remains of the Vineyard Wind turbine blade that crumbled into the ocean last summer.

No one was injured and no debris have been found in the water, according to Vineyard Wind, the company constructing the 62-turbine project near Martha’s Vineyard. In a statement, the company said it “deployed both aerial and maritime resources” and saw no evidence that any other part of the turbine was damaged.

It’s unclear when the lightning hit, but the company said it found “preliminary evidence” indicating a possible strike while conducting a routine inspection of the turbine. The U.S. Coast Guard said it was notified by Vineyard Wind on Thursday.

Petty Officer Lyric Jackson said “there are no navigational hazards to report.” She added that the Coast Guard is “standing by” and is in communication with Vineyard Wind.

The incident comes at a fraught time for the offshore wind industry. President Trump ordered a stop to all leasing and permitting for offshore wind development on his first day in office, and a review of all existing leases.

Read the full article at wbur

RHODE ISLAND: Magaziner states NOAA Cuts ‘a direct attack on the Ocean State’

March 4, 2025 — Sharp cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will hurt Rhode Island’s economy and imperil its commercial fisheries, said U.S. Rep. Seth Magaziner.

The White House on Thursday cut around 800 people from the NOAA payroll, and intends to eliminate 30% to 50% of the agency’s staff, said Magaziner, who hosted a panel discussion in Providence to “sound the alarm.”

“As the Ocean State, it is a direct attack on our character and our quality of life,” Magaziner said. “And we need to fight back.”

Read the full article at Providence Business First

NOAA cuts come to Narragansett Bay and Woods Hole facilities

March 4, 2025 — Multiple employees for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration working in the agency’s Woods Hole and Narragansett Bay facilities had their positions eliminated by the agency on Thursday, according to 10 current and former employees of those labs and offices. The employees affected worked across the agency, including several in facilities and fisheries management.

The cuts affected people in their probationary periods of employment, which last one to two years at the agency. NOAA would not confirm the number of people whose jobs were cut at the two facilities, but several employees from Woods Hole said that branch provided the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, with a list of 23 names of probationary employees back in January. National news outlets like CBS and The New York Times have estimated the number of employees affected across the country is in the hundreds.

Sarah Cierpich was among the employees terminated from one of the campuses in Woods Hole after working for the agency for 19 years – first as a contractor, and then, since September 9 of last year, as a federal employee. She said she had called out sick yesterday, fell asleep, and then woke up to the bad news.

“I woke up to my boss calling me, saying, ‘Can you check your email?’” she said.

The termination email that came from Vice Admiral Nancy Hann, the new undersecretary of NOAA, made Cierpich feel “disrespected and disgusted,” she said.

Read the full article at CAI

‘This Is a Calamity’: Federal Cuts Decimate NOAA Programs and Threaten Rhode Island’s Blue Economy

March 4, 2025 — As chaos and uncertainty continue to be unleashed on federal agencies thanks to the policies of the Trump administration, the Ocean State’s blue economy is just starting to feel those downstream impacts.

While federal jobs by themselves don’t play an outsized role in the state’s economy, many functions of scientific marine research, marine resource management, and commercial fishing rely heavily on federal initiatives or funding.

The past few weeks have seen 800 probationary employees at the federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration fired without cause, and further deep cuts to agency staffing are expected by a March 13 deadline issued by the White House to its federal agency chiefs.

Many of the federal grants awarded to states, nonprofits or other nongovernmental agencies remain frozen and inaccessible, despite multiple court orders from multiple district judges to turn the funding spigot back on.

Read the full article at EcoRi News

MAINE: Trump administration terminates Maine Sea Grant

March 3, 2025 — The Maine Sea Grant program was abruptly ended by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, amid sweeping cutbacks to NOAA’s budget.

The news came Saturday during the Maine Fishermen’s Forum, an annual industry gathering in Rockland that Maine Sea Grant first helped organize in the 1980s. The Trump administration budget ax would cut $1.5 million in funding this year, $4.5 million through January 2028 and affect 20 Sea Grant workers at the University of Maine in Orono and the state’s small coastal ports.  

“It has been determined that the program activities proposed to be carried out in Year 2 of the Maine Sea Grant Omnibus Award are no longer relevant to the focus of the Administration’s priorities and program objectives,” stated a notification letter from NOAA to University of Maine officials.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Coastal economies rely on NOAA, from Maine to Florida, Texas and Alaska – even if they don’t realize it

March 3, 2025 — Healthy coastal ecosystems play crucial roles in the U.S. economy, from supporting multibillion-dollar fisheries and tourism industries to protecting coastlines from storms.

They’re also difficult to manage, requiring specialized knowledge and technology.

That’s why the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – the federal agency best known for collecting and analyzing the data that make weather forecasts and warnings possible – leads most of the government’s work on ocean and coastal health, as well as research into the growing risks posed by climate change.

The government estimates that NOAA’s projects and services support more than one-third of the nation’s gross domestic product. Yet, this is one of the agencies that the Trump administration has targeted, with discussions of trying to privatize NOAA’s forecasting operations and disband its crucial climate change research.

As a marine environmental historian who studies relationships among scientists, fishermen and environmentalists, I have seen how NOAA’s work affects American livelihoods, coastal health and the U.S. economy.

Here are a few examples from just NOAA’s coastal work, and what it means to fishing industries and coastal states.

Read the full article at The Conversation

Democrats concerned DOGE is targeting NOAA, sources say

February 6, 2025 — Democrats on Capitol Hill, and sources familiar with the situation, said the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has been inside the offices of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The White House DOGE team is a cost-cutting initiative created by President Trump to find ways to trim federal spending. Billionaire Elon Musk is in charge of it, categorized as a “special government employee.”

Former NOAA officials told CBS News that current employees have been told to expect a 50% reduction in staff and budget cuts of 30%.

Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, who represents the state where NOAA is headquartered, said his office is investigating DOGE’s work on NOAA, which includes such agencies as the National Weather Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Read the full article at CBS News

Foreign fisheries support in jeopardy after Trump admin freezes USAID

February 5, 2025 — U.S. support for sustainable foreign fisheries is among the humanitarian government programs thrown into jeopardy by the Trump administrations attempt to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

“Our programs are at risk,” Byron Bay, Australia-based conservation group Positive Change for Marine Life said in a social media post. “The Trump administration’s freeze on all USAID-funded programs has left us facing a major funding gap.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Biden administration withdraws rules to save endangered whales from collisions

January 15, 2025 — The federal government is withdrawing a proposal that would require more ships to slow down in East Coast waters to try to save a vanishing species of whale, officials said Wednesday.

The move in the waning days of the Biden administration will leave the endangered North Atlantic right whale vulnerable to extinction as the Trump administration is signaling a shift from environmental conservation to support for marine industries, conservation groups said. But federal authorities said there’s no way to implement the rules before President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Monday.

The new vessel speed rules proposed by the National Marine Fisheries Service more than two years ago have been the topic of much debate among shippers, commercial fishermen and wildlife conservationists, who all have a stake in the whale’s fate. The whale, which is vulnerable to collisions with ships, numbers less than 380 and its population has plummeted in recent years.

Read the full article at the Associated Press