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Members warn NOAA staffing, budget cuts are hampering fisheries science and safety
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Summary
Witnesses and lawmakers told the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife, and Fisheries that recent staffing and budget cuts at NOAA are delaying stock assessments, cancelling surveys and safety services, and raising uncertainty for commercial and recreational fishermen.
The House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife, and Fisheries heard repeated testimony that staffing and budget reductions at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are disrupting fisheries science, delaying management decisions and degrading services fishermen rely on.
Ranking Member Hoyle said the Trump administration’s recent personnel reductions at NOAA have “thrown fishing communities into chaos,” and that “over one third of the NOAA Fisheries positions are now vacant.” She and witnesses described canceled surveys, interrupted permit reviews and reduced agency travel that have delayed hatchery compliance decisions and stock assessments.
The lack of timely science matters because fishery managers use those data to set seasons and quotas. Rick Belvance, chair of the Council Coordination Committee and a commercial fisherman from Point Judith, Rhode Island, told the panel that “canceled or scaled back stock assessments threaten economically important fisheries like groundfish, monkfish, and scallops in New England.” Belvance said councils are seeing delays in assessments and in the publication of regulations that allow fishermen to fish.
Jamie O'Connor, deputy executive director of the Alaska Marine Conservation Council and a fifth generation Bristol Bay fisherman, described concrete service disruptions: webcams at rural airports were turned off, volunteers could not be reimbursed for travel to surveys, and some navigational buoys and training programs were reduced. “These cuts aren’t just numbers on a spreadsheet,” O'Connor testified. “They are delayed surveys, outdated stock assessments, long waits for permits, loans, and disaster relief, weakened enforcement, and failure to modernize.”
Committee members and witnesses also tied NOAA cuts to safety and forecasting concerns. O'Connor said degraded National Weather Service support and fewer high‑quality forecasts hamper small boats and pilots in Alaska and can increase risks at sea. Lawmakers noted that some NOAA programs—such as Sea Grant and the Integrated Ocean Observing System—were called out in budget proposals for elimination or deep reductions during recent administration proposals.
Members asked why NOAA leadership has not appeared to answer the subcommittee’s questions; witnesses urged Congress to restore funding and staffing to preserve the agency’s ability to deliver science, enforcement and safety. Belvance said councils continue to try to balance conservation and harvest goals but warned that “anytime there’s a compromise to the quality of the data … it directly impacts the fishing community by allowing less fish to be taken out of the water.”
The hearing record will remain open for member questions to witnesses, and lawmakers indicated they will press for details on how funding and staff shortfalls are affecting season-setting, hatchery compliance, emergency response and other operational duties.
Looking ahead, witnesses urged that any efforts to increase competitiveness or regulatory efficiency must be accompanied by sustained investment in NOAA science and staff so that management remains grounded in timely, verifiable data.
