The tactics reportedly used last Tuesday, Feb. 4 by the Trump Administration’s Elon Musk Department of Government Efficiency team at the National Oceanographic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland were extremely hard to read about. NOAA is responsible for fisheries.
“They apparently just sort of walked past security and said: ‘Get out of my way,’ and they’re looking for access for the IT systems, as they have in other agencies,” said Andrew Rosenberg, a former deputy director of NOAA, told the Guardian. I have visited NOAA’s national office in Silver Spring, Maryland many times. The security is tight, very much like an airport. Visitors, pocket books, packages and briefcases are all scanned with a three or four person security team at the entrance.
Project 2025, written by several former President Trump staffers, has called for NOAA to be “broken up and downsized”, claiming the agency is “harmful to US prosperity” for its role in climate science.
This attack on climate science and our nation’s fisheries continues to heat up the issue of climate ready fisheries. The fact is climate is having a big impact on the fish we catch today. The fish are vastly different in type and abundance due to warming water, sea level rise, acidification, shifting stocks, changing bait/forge profiles and other climate impacts.
Healthy fisheries are an economic driver for our nation and states. According to Fisheries Economics of the US recreational fishing in Massachusetts has a $912-million sales impact on the economy annually and in Rhode Island recreational fishing has a $419-million impact annually.
January 2025 was the warmest January on record. Warming water has been proven to impact fish reproduction in a negative way, science also tells us when fish do not like warming water, they will move if they can to deeper cooler water and further north. We simply do not have as many fish to catch, eat and or release as we have had in the past
The world’s warming is due to emissions of greenhouse gases that heat the planet and are produced primarily through the burning of fossil fuels. In a BBC report this week (https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyjk92w9k1o), Gavin Schmidt, director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies at NASA, said, “The basic reason we’re having records being broken, and we’ve had this decades-long warming trend, is because we’re increasing the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere,”
We need to leave NOAA alone, let it continue to research the atmosphere, oceans and the fish that live in the ocean so our nation can be better prepared for climate impacts such as wild fires, intense storms, sea level rise and the negative impacts warming water and other climate impacts have on habitat and fish.
It is the Constitutional right of Congress to determine funding for agencies like NOAA and not the right of the President. Anglers, commercial fishers and all the people of the United Sates of American must put pressure on Congress to do their job and not dismantle NOAA but provide it with full funding it needs, particularly to do climate science.
Send your congress person an email or call them and let them know they need to take action, you can find the names of House members at https://www.house.gov/representatives , contact information for Senators at https://www.senate.gov/states/statesmap.htm.

Coastwide speed zone put on hold, still have Seasonal Management Areas
On Jan. 15, 2025, NOAA Fisheries formally withdrew a proposed rule to amend the North Atlantic Right Whale Vessel Strike Reduction Rule, which published in the Federal Register (87 FR 46921) on August 1, 2022.
NOAA Fisheries had insufficient time to finalize this regulation due to the scope and volume of public comments received against the proposed rule. Commercial vessels would have been subject to a ten mile an hour limit coastwide which would have doubled the time ferries take to get to Nantucket, Martha’s Vinyard and Bock Island. Additionally, fishers felt the rule was a bit overreaching as it would have blanketed the entire coastline with the rule rather than implement speed zones when right whales were in the area.
We still do have mandatory right whale speed zones in our area. For example, NOAA Fisheries announced the annual opening of a Seasonal Management Area (SMA) in Cape Cod Bay to protect North Atlantic right whales which started on January 1, 2025.
All vessels 65 feet or longer must travel at 10 knots or less in this area to reduce the threat of vessel collisions with these endangered whales. The Cape Cod Bay SMA is in effect through May 15, 2025. Because vessels of all sizes can strike and injure a right whale, NOAA Fisheries also encourage vessels less than 65 feet in length to slow down to 10 knots or less within active SMAs.
North Atlantic right whales are on the move along the Atlantic coast of the U.S. If seen, remember that approaching a right whale closer than 500 yards is a violation of federal and state law.
Endangered North Atlantic right whales are approaching extinction. There are approximately 360 individuals remaining, including fewer than 70 reproductively active females. Human impacts such as vessel strikes and entanglements with fixed fishing gear such as lobster pots and fish traps continue to threaten the survival of this species.
Details and graphics of all vessel strike management zones currently in effect can be found at Reducing Vessel Strikes to North Atlantic Right Whales | NOAA Fisheries.

Where’s the bite?
Cod. Party boat fishing and a few smaller charter boats continue to fish for cod south of Cape Cod and off Rhode Island waters. Fishing Machine Charters, Pt. Judith, RI at www.fishingmachinecharters.com has been hooking up with cod in the Cox Ledge wind farm area and is running open boats so you might be able to get a single spot on the vessel. Larger party boat vessels generally sail between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. and return in the afternoon. Visit www.islandcurrent.com and www.francesfleet.com.Fishing. Full day rates for party boat vessels are generally $130 to $135 per adult and around $80 for those under 12 years old.
Freshwater fishing. Check ice conditions with local cities and towns to make sure ice is safe for fishing or skating. For a complete list of trout stocked ponds in Massachusetts visit Mass Wildlife at Trout stocking report | Mass.gov. The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) stocked thirteen waterways last week for updates visit Designated Trout Waters | Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management.
Dave Monti holds a master captain’s license and charter fishing license. He serves on a variety of boards and commissions and has a consulting business focusing on clean oceans, habitat preservation, conservation, renewable energy, and fisheries related issues and clients. Forward fishing news and photos to dmontifish@verison.net or visit www.noflukefishing.com.