How do you take back NOAA funds, as much as $239 million, for climate and ocean science already allocated in the 2025 budget by Congress? Simple, you fire or lay off staff, drag your feet on grant approvals and then scoop up the money not obligated at the end of the fiscal year.

This is what our Office of Management and Budget (OMB) plans to do with NOAA and is another example of circumventing the will of the people through Congress which has funding power. And even worse, it sets the table for reduced NOAA funding in 2026.

“Overall, this seems to reflect a scooping up of funding at the end of the year (fiscal year concludes at the end of September)  likely not obligated yet due to all the staffing reductions and freezes and slow rolling of NOAA acquisition and grant approvals,” John Potts, a former chief financial officer at the National Weather Service and NOAA budget director, said in an interview that appeared online in a Bloomberg Government story.

The Bloomberg story said, “NOAA’s National Ocean Service and its Oceanic and Atmospheric Research office, which does climate research, would see the biggest decreases under the fiscal 2025 plan. The Trump administration has proposed eliminating the research office, while the National Marine Fisheries Service and NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service also would take budget hits under the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) plan.”

The cuts would hit NOAA Fisheries hard in the areas of habitat, science, and management. Specifically, habitat, climate research and coastal resiliency impact funding would be eliminated or drastically reduced. Programs like our estuary programs in Narragansett and Buzzard’s Bays, Sea Grant programs in MA and RI, and funding for enhanced stock assessments and climate research to get a handle on shifting stocks and changing ocean conditions we see on the water every day.

Support NOAA by letting your US Senators and Congresspersons know how important NOAA funding is to you. And if you have friends in other states, particularly those with Republican congresspersons, urge them to connect with their Senators and Congresspersons too.

Conservation has not been, and should not be, a partisan issue.

Need to know more about sharks!

The Atlantic Shark Institute (ASI) has awarded three $10,000 grants to PhD candidates to support their shark research projects.  Research Fellows also have free access to the ASI’s large fleet of research vessels, various tag technologies based on their specific study, and access to the ASI’s distinguished Research Advisory Board.

Humans have had greater contact with sharks of all types in recent years because they are coming closer to shore as the food they like to eat is here. Warming water has brought robust forage fish profiles close to shore of silversides, sand eels, maceral and herring of all types, squid, scup and much. So, it is important to encourage learning more about data poor shark species in particular.

The three recipients include Christine de Silva, a PhD candidate at URI’s Graduate School of Oceanography. Her research focuses on Accessible Ocean Technologies, smaller and more affordable marine technologies, and developing them to study deep-sea sharks. 

The other two grant recipients are Jake Beretta, who is pursuing his PhD at Florida State University, focusing his research on the poorly understood spinner sharks, and Kirsty Ballard, a PhD in Fisheries Science at Oregon State University. 

To learn more visit www.atlanticsharkinstitute.org

NOAA Fisheries 

Workshop on 

Recreational Effort Survey calibration

The Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP), their new Effort Survey and data calibration effort model, will be peer and public reviewed on September 23 and 24, 2025. This model will be used to calibrate recreational effort data and have a direct impact on recreational fishing harvest limits in 2026.

NOAA Fisheries Office of Science and Technology will host the two-day virtual workshop with the opportunity for partner and public comment on the proposed Fishing Effort Survey (FES) calibration model methodology. 

The workshop is being held online September 23, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. EDT and on September 24, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. End times are estimates. 

For additional information visit Federal Register :: NOAA Fisheries Virtual Peer Review Workshop for the Fishing Effort Survey Calibration Model

Where’s the bite?

Striped bass, bluefish, bonito, and false albacore. Jeff Sullivan of Lucky Bait & Tackle, Warren, said, “We are catching striped bass mixed in with false albacore and bonito blitzes off Newport. In between blitzes we have been dropping our epoxy jigs to the bottom and picking up fluke and squeteague. On one outing last week we caught 22 squeteague. The bass are getting large off Brenton Reef, Newport. Last week caught a 44-pound striped bass using a 14” soft plastic eel lure.”  

Elisha Cahill of Snug Harbor Marina, South Kingstown, said, “The false albacore bite has been outstanding, in fact my nephew Dylan Conti, caught his first slammer at the North Rip off Block Island when fishing with his father Matt Conti. The false albacore weighed 6.8 pounds. The Albies have been in the Harbor of Refuge every morning and seem to leave once the boat traffic starts. Bonito, false albacore with striped bass mixed in have been caught off Newton Avenue and other Narragansett Beaches. East Matunuck is yielding an outstanding bluefish and a very hot squeteague bite.”

Tautog. “The tautog bite has been fairly good off Brenton Reef Newport. However, anglers are having to work though a lot of shorts to get a keeper when fishing off Pt. Judith Light,” said Cahill of Sung Harbor Marina. “Tautog fishing is great out in front of Newport where five-to-eight-pound fish have been caught in lower water to 25 feet,” said Sullivan of Lucky Bait.  

Sharks and tuna. “Makos and thresher sharks along with giant bluefin tuna are being caught off Narragansett at the mouth of Narragansett Bay. There is also a good big eye tuna and yellow fin tuna bite offshore,” said Cahill of Sung Harbor Marina.

Freshwater fishing for largemouth bass has been very good. At night frogs and buzz baits have been working well. And by day working structure areas with boulders and stumps has been paying off,” said Sullivan of Lucky Bait & Tackle.

Dave Monti holds a captain’s master 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. Forward fishing news and photos to dmontifish@verizon.net, visit www.noflukefishing.blogspot.com or www.noflukefishing.com