U.S. support for sustainable foreign fisheries is among the humanitarian government programs thrown into jeopardy by the Trump administrations attempt to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
“Our programs are at risk,” Byron Bay, Australia-based conservation group Positive Change for Marine Life said in a social media post. “The Trump administration’s freeze on all USAID-funded programs has left us facing a major funding gap.”
USAID invested more than USD 73 million (EUR 70 million) “to conserve marine biodiversity and promote sustainable fisheries in priority biodiversity areas” in fiscal year 2022, with the funding spread over 25 countries, including in Peru, Ecuador, and the Philippines. The agency also invested USD 23 million (EUR 22 million) in efforts to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
“USAID marine and fisheries activities span bilateral, regional, and global programs, across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean and the Pacific,” USAID explained in a 2024 fact sheet. “The majority of USAID’s activities support governments, civil society organizations, and the private sector in strengthening the capacities, constituencies, and information needed to implement science-based, collaborative fisheries management.”
For example, the Feed the Future Ghana Fisheries Recovery Activity (GFRA) is a five-year initiative launched in 2021 to help improve Ghana’s sardine, mackerel, and anchovy fisheries.
“As the first West African nation to commit to 100 percent monitoring of all industrial fishing vessels, my administration is taking a bold position to improve transparency of fishing activity," Ghana Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development Mavis Hawa Koomson said at the time. "This will contribute to our aim to prevent, deter, and eliminate illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing in Ghana.”
However, funding for USAID’s many fishing programs is now uncertain after billionaire Elon Musk announced his Department of Government Efficiency team was working to shut down the agency. The agency headquarters has been locked down, while more than 1,000 employees have been furloughed or laid off. U.S. President Donald Trump has endorsed Musk’s initiative, accusing USAID of being a vessel for fraud.
"It’s been run by a bunch of radical lunatics, and we’re getting them out, USAID run by radical lunatics, and we’re getting them out, and then we’ll make a decision," the president told reporters on 2 February, according to NBC News.
Control of the shuttered agency has been assumed by the Department of State.
The sudden freeze in funding could have major ramification for NGOs and groups working with USAID, which may be forced to cut programs and staff without the expected money.
“Without urgent support, we may have to let go of team members across the Solomon Islands, India, and Australia – jeopardizing critical conservation work in some of the world’s most biodiverse marine ecosystems,” Positive Change for Marine Life said in a post asking for financial support. “This isn’t just about jobs – it’s about the future of our ocean and the communities who depend on it. A loss of funding means a loss of progress. For climate and community resilience for all of us.”
Democratic lawmakers have denounced the USAID freeze as unconstitutional.
“This weekend, DOGE staffers also executed what can only be described as an illegal seizure of the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) said in a statement. “Its offices are closed. Its contracts have been broken. Funding for its programs, which protects American interest around the world, have been halted. And Secretary Rubio said in an interview that he’s been named the acting administrator and that they are 'reviewing and potentially reorganizing USAID.'"
