After NOAA Layoffs, Experts Warn of Impacts on Shipping and Fisheries
The U.S. Commerce Department has laid off as many as 880 employees from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the agency that provides weather forecasting, prepares nautical charts and administers federal fishery quotas. The cuts were primarily among probationary employees - either new hires or people who had been recently promoted to a new role - and the exact number of layoffs was not disclosed. The announcement drew protests from the scientific community, along with warnings about what cuts at NOAA will mean for maritime interests.
"NOAA’s data and science are used routinely by weather forecasters, mariners, farmers, emergency responders, businesses and everyday people across the country," said Dr. Juan Declet-Barreto, a senior member of the Union of Concerned Scientists. "Everyone in the United States relies on NOAA in their daily lives whether they realize it or not, something that will come into focus for many in the weeks and months ahead."
More cuts are expected. The General Services Administration is canceling office leases for some of the spaces that NOAA uses, and the agency has frozen the credit cards that its scientists and staffers use to pay for work expenses, according to the New York Times. The administration is also expected to cancel agreements with NOAA contractors totaling another 2,500 people. Coming soon, the Office of Management and Budget has issued planning guidance to federal agencies - including NOAA - for the next round of layoffs.
"Breaking up, defunding, or reducing NOAA's highly integrated workforce will severely impact our nation's economy," five former NOAA administrators said Friday in an open letter. "It will also make it more difficult to receive weather forecasts, be assured of the safety of seafood, and ensure the timely delivery of purchases from overseas, which are delivered primarily through our nation's ports."
Former NOAA acting administrator Timothy Gallaudet told NPR that the cuts "are really seemingly contradicting the administration's priorities," since downgrading weather services and weather research will have an impact on the economy - and on national security. Many of the personnel laid off last week were early-career scientists who were conducting research on improved forecasting methods. "It's an absolute gutting of young talent," one staffer told NPR.
“This loss of talent at NOAA is going to set the agency back years and compromise the integrity of missions that directly support human health and safety, economic prosperity and national security,” a policy analyst at NOAA's National Ocean Service told the New York Times.
"We’re the group that has the unique combination of early career motivation/drive but also enough expertise to be quickly effective as we are promoted into new roles,” said former NOAA hurricane researcher Dr. Andrew Hazelton, who was laid off last week. “This is not the group you’d get rid of if you wanted to make an organization more efficient — it’s what you’d do if you want to destroy an organization.”
Former NOAA administrator Richard Spinrad said Friday that the impact could be serious for U.S. fisheries, which have a global reputation for responsible management. "That’s a $320 billion annual industry. And it’s hard to be the best in the world in an industry like that if you can’t support the industry with things as fundamental as stock assessments, how many fish are out there,” Spinrad told the Rhode Island Current.