NOAA staff cuts and hiring freeze prompt alarm from scientists, union and conservation groups

The Pacific Fishery Management Council heard extensive testimony on March 6 about how recent personnel actions at NOAA Fisheries and a temporary hiring freeze are affecting science and survey work that supports fisheries management.

At the meeting, Chantelle Wetzel, speaking for the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, Local 8‑8a, said probationary firings and other workforce reductions have already trimmed scientific capacity at U.S. science centers and will have immediate effects on data collection and assessments. “The proposed large scale reductions in force will decimate our institutional knowledge, capacity, and expertise,” Wetzel said. She told the council the Alaska Fisheries Science Center lost 10 bargaining‑unit employees in the probationary firings and the Northwest Fisheries Science Center lost nine.

Why it matters: NOAA Fisheries scientists at the Northwest and Alaska science centers produce the surveys, stock assessments and analyses that feed council rulemaking and catch limits. Witnesses said even a single missed survey year can complicate assessments and reduce managers’ confidence in the data used to set annual catch levels.

NOAA perspective: Jennifer Kwan, West Coast regional administrator for NOAA Fisheries, told the council the agency is operating amid an administrationwide hiring and regulatory freeze and that many detailed instructions are still pending at headquarters. “We are in choppy waters,” she said, and urged patience while the agency and its regional staff work to interpret new executive guidance and keep programs running. Kwan said NOAA has two tribal liaisons in place and that the agency is coordinating to ensure treaty and other legal obligations are met.

Union and conservation testimony: In addition to the union testimony, representatives from Oceana urged the council to oppose cuts and to push for funding to maintain scientific capacity. “With the accelerating impacts of climate change, increasing demands on ocean ecosystems, it's more important than ever that NOAA and the Fishery Management Councils are fully funded and fully functioning,” Ben Ichknapp of Oceana said.

Industry and scientists: Fishery participants and some council members noted immediate operational impacts. Several fishermen and industry managers said survey and observer losses reduce data needed to validate stock assessments and can close markets when harvest opportunities suddenly shrink.

Council response and next steps: Council members and NOAA staff discussed the immediate need to document impacts on individual surveys and assessments. Executive Director Merrick Burton and NOAA staff said they are tracking grant approvals and temporary limits on travel and purchasing that arose during early January budget interruptions, and that the council will be updated as additional detail becomes available.

Ending note: Witnesses urged the council to “sound the alarm” to state and federal elected officials and to document where the loss of staff will most immediately affect assessments, surveys or enforcement. The council requested that NOAA and the regional science centers provide additional detail about which data streams and assessments are most at risk for the next meeting.