The US government agency that monitors the weather and conducts research on the world’s oceans, among other things, is now in the cross-hairs of the Trump administration.
Wired Magazine reported this week that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service has been ordered to stop communicating with foreign partners and participating with international organizations.
Wired obtained an internal email that says NOAA Fisheries employees were also told to send in details of the international work they were doing so their superiors could approve it.
According to NOAA Fisheries’ website, which as of Thursday evening was still live:
“U.S. fisheries are a global model of success. We are leading the way in science-based management and in the use of innovative strategies to achieve and maintain sustainable fisheries and to preserve and rebuild protected species, including marine mammals and sea turtles.
“As one of the largest seafood-consuming and fishing nations, it is critical that we take an active role in shaping the conservation and management regimes of international fisheries. We work to meet the demand of U.S. consumers that imported seafood be safe, legal, and sustainable and ensure confidence in U.S. seafood by protecting and strengthening the seafood market through international engagement.
“We do this by engaging with other nations bilaterally and multilaterally through various international fisheries organizations and agreements to promote sound management and conservation of global fisheries resources in a manner consistent with U.S. domestic fisheries policy.”
Project 2025, a “180-day playbook” promulgated by the conservative Heritage Foundation, says:
“[T]he next conservative president should consider whether … The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) should be dismantled and many of its functions eliminated, sent to other agencies, privatized, or placed under the control of states and territories.”
The report further looks at NOAA’s six main offices:
- The National Weather Service
- The National Ocean Service
- The Oceanic and Atmospheric Research office
- The National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service
- The National Marine Fisheries Service, and
- The Office of Marine and Aviation Operations and NOAA Corps
About them, Project 2025 states:
“Together, these form a colossal operation that has become one of the main
drivers of the climate change alarm industry and, as such, is harmful to future U.S. prosperity. This industry’s mission emphasis on prediction and management seems designed around the fatal conceit of planning for the unplannable. That is not to say NOAA is useless, but its current organization corrupts its useful functions. It should be broken up and downsized.
“NOAA today boasts that it is a provider of environmental information services, a provider of environmental stewardship services, and a leader in applied scientific research. Each of these functions could be provided commercially, likely at lower cost and higher quality.”
