NOAA is a “four-letter word” in most Maine coastal communities right now. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s decisions on right whale protection measures, offshore wind development, dam relicensing, recreational harvest limits and more have left many of our state’s recreational anglers, charter boat operators, commercial harvesters, nonprofit organizations and even state agencies exasperated, baffled and incensed.
Lobster fishermen work at sunrise off Kennebunkport in 2022. The waters off New England logged the second-warmest year in their recorded history last year, according to researchers. “NOAA Fisheries needs a fully funded climate and ecosystems program to start addressing the serious climate challenges facing our fisheries without sacrificing the agency’s other vital duties,” Capt. Peter Fallon writes. Robert F. Bukaty/Associated Press, File
Despite our frustration and anger, we need to support fully funding the fiscal year 2024 NOAA budget request.
The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA Fisheries, is the agency that oversees fisheries resources at the federal level and it does far more than just issue onerous regulations that capture headlines. NOAA Fisheries either conducts or funds much of the research into the fish we catch, and the forage and ecosystems that sustain them.
The agency, with its mission to produce fisheries science and carry out sustainable management, has a huge impact on our fish populations – from producing high-quality stock assessments to keeping catch at sustainable levels, and from protecting to restoring fish habitat. It is critical that the agency has the funding needed to fulfill its stewardship and management role – as well as its capacity for ecosystem-based fisheries management, enhanced climate research and stock assessments that can address geographic shifts in bait and fish stocks. We need to support the overall funding levels included in President Biden’s budget for both NOAA and NOAA Fisheries.
On top of its longstanding duties, NOAA Fisheries is dealing with ever-growing challenges from climate change, and funding for the agency has not nearly kept pace with the rate of change in our ocean systems.
One opportunity to jumpstart efforts to address climate change is to fully fund the Climate, Ecosystems and Fisheries Initiative within NOAA. This initiative would work across all arms of NOAA to implement climate-ready fisheries – it is a priority that Congress should support. NOAA Fisheries announced that the effort would receive $40 million in funding from the Inflation Reduction Act to carry out pilot projects in six regions. That’s good news for getting the initiative off the ground, but in order to succeed, it needs regular and ongoing funding from Congress.
NOAA Fisheries needs a fully funded climate and ecosystems program to start addressing the serious climate challenges facing our fisheries without sacrificing the agency’s other vital duties. Shifting stocks due to warming water should not deter stock-rebuilding efforts. We need to both include climate impacts in our Fisheries Management Plans and bolster climate research and stock rebuilding.
Recreational fishing is big business in Maine. As the owner of a charter fishing business for almost 20 years, I know that our industry is reliant on an abundance of gamefish in the water, a healthy habitat and a thriving forage base. I support the NOAA appropriations request, along with the added funding that will lead to long-term sustainable management in an era of a rapidly changing climate. I urge anglers, recreational fishing businesses and all ocean users to make it clear to Maine’s entire U.S. Congressional delegation (particularly Sen. Susan Collins, in her capacity as vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee) that despite our objections to individual agency decisions we must support the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration budget request.
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