Moulton: NOAA cuts ‘recipe for disaster’

Feb. 16--President Donald Trump's proposed budget for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration cuts more than $1 billion from the agency that manages the nation's fisheries and coastal ecosystems, explores space and forecasts weather and changing environmental conditions.

On Thursday, U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton of Salem criticized the proposed cuts, saying the proposed 19 percent decline in funding reflects the administration's shallow understanding of the importance of NOAA's programs to coastal communities, maritime industries and the national resources the agency is tasked to protect.

"It's a recipe for disaster," Moulton said of the withering budget cuts.

A spokeswoman at NOAA's Gloucester-based Greater Atlantic Region Fisheries Office said the agency would have no comment on the budget proposal.

Still, the numbers remain unnerving -- and the opposition more unified among a disparate band of conservationists, fishing stakeholders and political forces -- when the cuts within the cuts are explored.

Local groundfishermen, already buffeted by heightened regulation, shrinking quotas and climactic changes, fear the cuts will kill any possibility that NOAA will continue reimbursements for portions of their at-sea monitoring costs in 2018.

Conservationists, such as Oceana, have railed against the deep cuts in ocean-funded research, such as the 33 percent cut in the National Ocean Service.

"The president's proposal would cripple NOAA, the nation's premier agency for ocean management and research," Oceana said in its statement responding to the Trump budget proposals. "Major NOAA programs would suffer massive cuts."

Fisheries cuts

And that includes NOAA Fisheries.

According to NOAA's own budget summary for fiscal year 2019, NOAA Fisheries is facing a $110.4 million reduction, or about 14 percent, to $837.3 million.

The decline in funding is sure to impact current programs protecting ecosystems and endangered species, as well as the management of the system established for managing the nation's fisheries.

"It's terrible," Moulton said, adding that the proposed budget should be considered a measuring stick for the administration's values and philosophies.

As such, he said, it does not bode well for fishermen or others dedicated to sustainable fisheries and healthy coastal ecosystems.

"President Trump does not value fishermen," Moulton said simply.

The proposed cuts to NOAA Fisheries include a $17.7 million decrease in the fisheries science and management section, a $5 million cut in the fisheries data collection used for stock assessments, a $5.1 million reduction in funding for the national catch share program and a $2.9 million cut to cooperative research programs.

Fisheries enforcement

But those pale in comparison to the $17.8 million -- more than 25 percent -- cut in funding for NOAA Law Enforcement.

The entire law enforcement reduction is coming from the agency's cooperative enforcement program and will eliminate funding for joint enforcement agreements with law enforcement partners from 28 states and U.S. territories.

"You cut enforcement and you open the door to all sorts of unsavory individuals, such as Carlos Rafael," Moulton said, referencing the New Bedford fishing kingpin currently serving a 46-month federal prison sentence for rampant and long-standing circumvention of current commercial fishing management policies.

It's unclear what the proposed cuts would mean for NOAA Fisheries facilities here, where the Greater Atlantic Region Fisheries Office employs about 200. Complicating matters further, the locally-based federal regulator is in the midst of a leadership transition.

Former Regional Administrator John K. Bullard and a handful of the office's senior managers have retired. Mike Pentony has assumed the position as regional administrator, but the cuts -- if supported by Congress -- could drastically alter the office's workforce and level of resources.

The Trump administration also wants to cut $4.8 million from habitat and conservation programs, basically wiping out funding for the agency's fisheries habitat restoration project which provides grants for "on-the-ground habitat restoration projects."

"We need to be investing more, not less, in coastal management grants," Moulton said. "Now we have to fight back."

He characterized the president's budget proposal as a "a guideline" and said it will be up to Congress to determine the ultimate levels of funding through the appropriation process.

"I'm not pretending it's going to be easy," he said, referring to the Republican-controlled Congress.

Contact Sean Horgan at 978-675-2714, or shorgan@gloucestertimes.com. Follow him on Twitter at @SeanGDT.

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