Remotely operated vehicle Deep Discoverer being brought aboard NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer during a 2016 mission in the Pacific Ocean.
Image credit: NOAA
The US government has unveiled a $147.5 million initiative aiming to boost the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s capacity for data collection, analysis, and climate-informed decision-making in support of sustainable fisheries and resilient coastal ecosystems.
“By strengthening NOAA’s scientific efforts to help us better understand and plan for changing marine conditions, we are making smart investments in the economic and climate resilience of communities across our entire country," said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, in a NOAA press announcement.
Of the total, NOAA Fisheries is granted $107.5 million to improve its science and data collection on climate change effects, and to improve stock assessments of fish and marine mammals. According to NOAA, the funding is expected to "modernize and transform" the agency's technological capabilities, and it will also mean NOAA can collect a broader set of observations utilizing a variety of innovative methods such as uncrewed systems, remote sensing and environmental DNA collection.
Meanwhile, a further $40 million will fund NOAA's Climate, Ecosystems, and Fisheries Initiative, which "will establish an operational decision-support system to track changes in marine ecosystems, and assess risks to valuable resources and the communities who depend on them. It will also identify options for reducing risks and bolstering resilience in the face of changing climate and ocean conditions".
To support the initiative's implementation, NOAA Fisheries will also be given an additional $20 million, while NOAA's National Ocean Service will receive $4 million. Furthermore, $16 million will go to NOAA Research to develop the state-of-the-art forecasts and long-term projections of ocean and Great Lakes conditions.
“The climate crisis means warming oceans, rising sea levels, diminishing sea ice and increasing acidification — all profoundly impacting coastal ecosystems and every aspect of NOAA's mission,” said Assistant Administrator for NOAA Fisheries Janet Coit.
“We have an unprecedented opportunity to advance our scientific understanding of our rapidly changing ocean and deliver critical information to communities that depend on healthy marine ecosystems," Coit added.
This funding is part of a raft of investments totalling $3.3 billion as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, first announced by NOAA in June 2023, and complments other efforst by NOAA Fisheries, including the revised Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management Road Map, the organization said.
