The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has proposed a 41 percent budget cut to NOAA Fisheries, which includes the removal of effectively all protected species and habitat conservation functions.
“Funding cuts for NOAA could not come at a worse time when you consider just how vulnerable American fisheries and fishermen are right now,” Jeff Watters, vice president of external affairs at NGO Ocean Conservancy, said in a release. “We are essentially putting blindfolds on and hoping for the best.”
The fiscal year 2027 budget proposal of USD 768 million (EUR 653 million) is USD 530 million (EUR 451 million), or 41 percent, below what Congress enacted for fiscal year 2026 earlier this year. The proposal mirrors many of Trump’s priorities in the fiscal year 2026 budget proposal, which included a roughly 30 percent budget cut and the transfer of protected species responsibilities to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Lawmakers nixed that plan, claiming they did not have enough time in the budget cycle to fully consider it, and ultimately rejected Trump’s proposed cuts to the agency.
Now, Trump is again pushing for steep spending cuts and the elimination of conservation and habitat work at NOAA Fisheries. Many of those conservation functions – specifically around the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) and the Endangered Species Act (ESA) – would instead be transferred to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Spending on some projects – such as Species Recovery Grants – would be outright terminated.
“The FY 2027 Budget consolidates all of [NOAA Fisheries’] activities related to ESA and MMPA responsibilities at the Department of the Interior’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which will streamline permitting activities and ensure consistency in ESA and MMPA implementation,” NOAA explained in its fiscal year 2027 budget justification. “This consolidation will improve the efficiency of implementing the ESA by ensuring that only one agency needs to review activities impacting endangered species.”
The entire USD 58 million (EUR 49 million) budget for the Office of Habitat Conservation and regional habitat offices would be eliminated under the 2027 plan, as would the USD 65 million (EUR 55 million) Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund and funding for the Saltonstall-Kennedy grant program.
“Cuts to NOAA are a direct threat to America’s fisheries, wildlife, coastal economies, and food security for thousands of people,” Oceana Vice President Beth Lowell said in a release. “Last year, the Trump administration attempted to slash the NOAA budget. Congress rejected most of the proposed cuts, yet now the administration and some lawmakers are at it again. If passed, these new cuts would further jeopardize NOAA’s ability to function, putting our oceans, fisheries, wildlife, and communities at risk. Congress needs to step in, once again, to fully fund NOAA.”
American Fisheries Society Executive Director Jeff Kopaska, in an April letter to lawmakers, called on lawmakers to push against the cuts and maintain funding for NOAA.
"The very foundation of natural resources conservation in this country rests on science to inform decisions and is supported by a strong workforce of professionals to ensure sustainable use and enjoyment for all citizens,” Kopaska wrote. “Our continued system of federal investment in natural resource conservation returns enormous dividends for the country and the world and is an economic engine for our national, state, and local economies. The threatened 40 percent budget cut and attempts to reduce the workforce will cripple the agency and erode the knowledge, skills, and experience needed to manage our nation’s fisheries.”
Beyond the elimination of conservation and habitat spending, the 2027 budget includes spending cuts across most budget areas. The reduction includes a USD 43 million (EUR 37 million) cut to the agency’s Fisheries and Ecosystem Science Programs and Services budget, with the government scaling back “lower-priority research and monitoring activities.” Socioeconomic fisheries research, food habits studies, life history investigations, gear research, and lower-priority surveys were all listed as areas where funding would be reduced.
Fisheries survey funding would also be reduced, though the Trump administration claims it will make up for the reduced spending by investing in new technology and unmanned systems to automate survey work. Under the plan, fisheries survey and data collection funding would decrease by USD 19 million (EUR 16 million), though the agency highlighted a USD 5 million (EUR 4 million) investment in technologies that can expand and improve data collection.
The budget includes a USD 31 million (EUR 26 million) cut in support for fisheries management, which NOAA Fisheries said will result in scaled-back support for lower-priority management activities, decreased investments in technology for catch share programs, and decreased investments in consistent data collection, such as electronic reporting and video review of electronic monitoring data.
Among the cuts, the administration highlighted some investments it was choosing to make.
For example, NOAA Fisheries requested USD 9.4 million (EUR 8 million) for its America First Seafood Strategy, which will be used to improve market access, improve the Seafood Import Monitoring Program, and combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Part of that funding will support the placement of additional NOAA Fisheries staff at top U.S. ports to stop IUU-tainted seafood from reaching U.S. consumers. It will also be used for artificial intelligence programs that will analyze vessel monitoring data to identify likely IUU fishing-derived products.
The government also requested USD 2 million (EUR 1.7 million) to “strengthen American aquaculture,” with investments in identifying and implementing aquaculture opportunity areas and using artificial intelligence in aquaculture environmental compliance analysis.
