The Trump administration is planning to make severe cuts to NOAA Fisheries, transferring most fisheries services to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services (USFWS), according to internal documents obtained by CNN.
“This is ludicrous! Whether you live on a coast or in the heartland, these proposed cuts to NOAA will impact you,” Oceana Vice President for the United States Beth Lowell said in a statement. “Eliminating funding and staffing won’t just cause chaos and confusion within NOAA – it would undermine people and businesses across the country.”
The documents, which outline the government’s fiscal year 2026 budget, show plans to “severely defund” NOAA Fisheries, transferring fisheries services from the Department of Commerce to the Department of the Interior, which oversees USFWS. According to the New York Times, which also obtained the internal documents, NOAA would receive just over USD 4.4 billion (EUR 3.9 billion), a USD 1.6 billion (EUR 1.4 billion) cut. The New York Times reported that NOAA Fisheries’ budget would be cut by a third before being moved to USFWS, and species recovery and habitat conservation grants would be eliminated.
“It opens the door to overfishing and would leave fishers with uncertainty about how they will support their families,” Lowell added. “It would put Americans in harm’s way as critical weather updates may be offline. Protected animals like whales and sea turtles could go extinct with scientists no longer on duty. Congress must act to stop the dismantling of NOAA that would directly threaten the millions of Americans that depend on healthy oceans for their jobs, businesses, and seafood dinners.”
For weeks, Democrats in Congress have warned that the Trump administration intends to gut NOAA and transfer its missions to other agencies – a proposal outlined in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 policy blueprint. While Project 2025 was tied to U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign throughout the 2024 election, Trump denied having any connection to the document. Despite those denials, Trump hired Russell Vought – a member of Project 2025's advisory board – as director of the Office of Management and Budget …
