Proposed Budget Would Impact Fundamental NOAA Services For Boaters

Boaters, anglers, aviators, and commercial mariners rely on the timely weather and sea-condition forecasts they check before heading out. That critical safety forecast dictates whether most even leave the dock. The backbone of these hyperlocal, highly accurate predictions (including those from popular weather apps) comes as a dependable public service from research and data collected and produced continually at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration facilities across America, every hour of every day.

In our last issue, BoatU.S. Magazine reported on significant NOAA staff cuts ordered by the Trump administration. Since those dismissals of hundreds of people, more cuts to marine weather and research services have been announced in the president’s new federal budget proposal. The proposed $4.456 billion NOAA budget represents a $1.672 billion – or 28% – reduction from what the agency requested.

A former NOAA leader calls the proposed cuts “ill-informed, misguided, and dangerous.” Rick Spinrad (former Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and NOAA Administrator) wrote a public letter urging Republican senators to reject the proposal.

“NOAA’s entire research office will get chucked out under this proposed budget,” said Spinrad, who has a doctorate in oceanography and was chief scientist at NOAA from 2014 to 2016. “If these cuts are executed, our weather and climate forecasts will begin to degrade immediately.” Before the October 1 deadline, he hopes for some push back. “Congressional debate over NOAA will be particularly contentious because these cuts are just so draconian.”

Retired Rear Adm. Timothy Gallaudet, who served as Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere during President Trump’s first term, said that the 2016 Trump administration also recommended deep cuts to NOAA funding: “The difference between then and now is political leadership, including myself, were allowed to decide what to cut, and we selected some but not all research grants. We didn’t zero them out. Now it’s very targeted.”

“The speed at which these decisions are being made translates into little to no opportunity for feedback or consideration of long-term impacts,” read a statement issued by the American Meteorological Society. “Without NOAA research, NWS weather models and products will stagnate, observational data collection will be reduced, public outreach will decrease, undergraduate and graduate student support will drop, and NOAA funding for universities will plummet. In effect, the scientific backbone and workforce needed to keep weather forecasts, alerts, and warnings accurate and effective will be drastically undercut, with unknown – yet almost certainly disastrous – consequences for public safety and economic health.”

The following details are from the Trump administration’s own internal document (called a “passback memo”) approved by the Office of Management and Budget and sent to federal departments and agencies spelling out to Congress specific cuts, the deepest of which focus on eliminating the climate and ocean research for which the United States is the world leader. BoatU.S. has reviewed the document. Here are details on how the proposed cuts could affect recreational boating.

Oceanic and Atmospheric Research

Known as “NOAA Research,” conducts research on the ocean, atmosphere, climate, and phenomena such as hurricanes, changes in the ozone layer, El Niño/La Niña events, fisheries productivity, and coastal ecosystem health. Conducts experiments, deploys observing technologies, analyzes the gathered data, builds predictive models, and develops new tools to improve weather forecasting. The proposed budget calls for the elimination of NOAA Research, transferring some programs into the National Ocean Service and National Weather Service. Funding would drop to $171.474 million, a $484.579 million (about 74%) reduction from the $656 million allocated for FY2025.

This budget eliminates:

• All funding for NOAA’s 10 Research Laboratories and Cooperative Institutes, which leverage research and technology to better understand the atmosphere, oceans, and inland waters, and accurately predict changes occurring to them. NOAA’s 16 Cooperative Institutes include 80 nonprofit academic universities and research institutions across 33-plus states conducting agency research.
• Sea Grant (College and Aquaculture) — A network of partnerships between NOAA and 34 university-based programs in every coastal and Great Lakes state, Puerto Rico, and Guam. Includes more than 3,000 scientists, engineers, public outreach experts, educators, and students helping citizens better understand, conserve, and safely use coastal resources.
• National Oceanographic Partnership Program — Pairs federal agencies, academia, and industry to advance ocean science research and education.
• Regional Climate Data and Information — Shares with threatened communities localized climate info for hazards such as drought and heat.
• Climate Competitive Research Grants — Awarded to programs funding high-priority climate science, assessments, and decision-making support.

National Ocean Service

Provides real-time tidal data and tide predictions, sea levels, coastal flooding, nautical chart updates, and tracks and reports on toxic algal blooms. The budget would fund NOS at $334.107 million – a $337.395 million (more than 50%) reduction.

This budget eliminates:

• Integrated Ocean Observing System Regional Observations — A network of personnel and technology (satellites, buoys, tide gauges, radar stations, underwater vehicles) that compile and distribute data on coastal waters, Great Lakes, and oceans. “If you need to know the water temperature and salinity 50 miles offshore or the wave height in Tampa Bay this afternoon, IOOS provides that accurate information,” Spinrad says. “This one will probably be felt first by boaters.”
• Coastal Zone Management Grants — For reference, in 2024, Congress appropriated $81.5 million to NOAA for coastal zone management grants to coastal and Great Lakes states and territories to preserve, protect, develop, enhance, and restore coastal resources such as the $4 million land-acquisition grant to help preserve fragile South Carolina salt marsh habitat where Little River meets the Atlantic.
• National Estuarine Research Reserve System — A network of 30 coastal sites where freshwater rivers meet the ocean, highly productive brackish waters supporting diverse plant and animal life, such as the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve in Maine, a NERRS research project providing coastal resource and infrastructure managers with scientific data to build marsh resilience.
• National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science — Provides coastal managers with scientific data to better manage threatened coastal ecosystems, preserve fragile habitats, and improve how communities interact with them. For instance, an ongoing three-year NCCOS project provides deeper understanding of the impacts of acidification, temperature, alkalinity, and nutrients to prevent harmful algal blooms in the Great Lakes.

National Marine Fisheries Service

Maintains the health of America’s ocean resources, fish populations, and their habitat by protecting the productivity and sustainability of fisheries and fishing communities based on science-based decision-making, planning, and compliance with regulations. Also, NMFS helps to conserve protected marine life including salmon, whales, and turtles. NMFS oversees five regional offices, six science centers, and more than 20 labs around the U.S. and its territories. The budget provides $789.327 million for NMFS, a $324.470 million (29%) reduction.

This budget eliminates:

• Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund — From 2000 to 2023, PCSRF appropriated $1.8 billion for 16,000 ongoing state and tribal projects to successfully conserve West Coast salmon and the salmon industry in Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, California, Washington, and Alaska, and tribes of the Columbia River and Pacific Coast.
• Species Recovery Grants — Supports management, research, monitoring, and/or outreach activities with direct conservation benefits for species listed under the Endangered Species Act.
• Habitat Conservation and Restoration — Provides funding and technical assistance to safeguard habitats that boost fish populations, recover threatened and endangered species, and make coastal communities more resilient.
• Interjurisdictional Fisheries Grants — For state assessment and research efforts determining the health of commercially and recreationally important fish stocks such as pelagic species off California and the surf clam inventory in New Jersey.

What Happens Next?

As this issue goes to press, it’s possible that changes could still be made to the proposed budget before it’s formally handed to Congress for consideration. FY2025 funding expires September 30 (Congress can extend that deadline).

“This is not an inherently political issue,” Spinrad concludes. It’s a national human safety and ocean- and coastal-health issue. “I was a BoatU.S. member for years and fished aboard my 17-foot Glastron on Chesapeake Bay. We all want to go boating and fishing safely. So, it’s important to tell our senators and representatives how these cuts would adversely affect us.” Find your state representatives at congress.gov by plugging in your address.