When news broke last Saturday that the Trump administration had abruptly pulled all funding from the University of Maine’s Sea Grant program, most of our fishing community leaders were gathered at the Maine Fishermen’s Forum in Rockland. It was the final day of the annual event that’s a combination trade show, business meeting and New Year’s Eve party for the state’s saltiest profession.

By midday, the event was thick with beards, tattoos and Carhartts, and as word began to spread, the vibe turned tense. Of the 34 Sea Grant programs operating nationwide — one in every coastal state plus Guam, Puerto Rico and American Samoa — the Department of Government Efficiency team had defunded only one: Maine’s.

President Donald Trump has received ample support from Maine’s commercial fishermen, as an accounting of bumper stickers on trucks at the forum could attest. But inside the venue, many of them were gobsmacked. The president they helped elect had determined that Sea Grant’s programs to support their communities were, to quote the termination notice, “no longer relevant to the administration’s priorities.”

So what, specifically, is Maine’s Sea Grant program doing differently from the other 33 programs that caused it to attract this kind of unique retribution? Nothing.

The national network of Sea Grant programs are overseen by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Elon Musk’s DOGE team had already been targeting NOAA for much of last week, including firing more than a hundred workers at the National Weather Service, which provides the forecasts integral to mariners’ safety at sea.

Then came the verbal altercation Trump instigated with Gov. Janet Mills, in which he promised to withhold Maine’s federal funding if she didn’t adhere to his policy on transgender athletes. Connecting the dots, it’s easy to guess how Maine Sea Grant landed on the front lines of DOGE’s “ready, fire, aim” offensive.

The fishing community’s response was swift and resounding. Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association President Ben Martens issued a statement saying his members were “devastated and frankly shocked.” One of their founding board members, Gerry Cushman, a fourth-generation fisherman from Port Clyde, cited ways that Sea Grant has supported his community, and called for the “potentially disastrous decision … [to be] corrected swiftly.”

Maine Aquaculture Association President Sebastian Belle agreed that the loss of funding would hit that industry hard. “We will lose our competitive edge and our ability to compete with imports,” if this funding dries up, he said.

The termination of funding came as a double slap in the face to Maine Sen. Susan Collins, who ascended to lead the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, only to see her role hamstrung by the president’s unconstitutional actions in withholding congressionally directed spending. Just last July, Collins touted her work to secure $82 million for the national Sea Grant program in a press release. Now Trump’s actions have left her home state’s program empty-handed, potentially spelling unemployment for 20 of her constituents.

Many Trump supporters will likely respond by blaming Gov. Mills for refusing to bend the knee. Their intention will be to shift the spotlight away from the president’s arbitrary, dictatorial and frequently illegal actions by casting a handful of vulnerable teenagers as the villains.

Don’t take the bait.

This decision has nothing to do with legitimate policymaking or government efficiency. It has nothing to do with who can play on high school teams. It doesn’t even have to do with fishing. It has everything to do with sending a message that dissent will not be tolerated, that any governor who dares oppose Trump’s agenda will suffer the same fate.

The stench of hypocrisy radiates from an administration that wants to let states decide how to regulate issues as consequential as abortion, yet attempts to take its wallet and go home if they don’t toe the line on other issues.

Gov. Mills stood up to a playground bully and incited his wrath. Fortunately, Mainers know when something stinks. And when it comes to protecting our independence, our future generations and our fishing heritage, we also know how to fight.