In defense of NOAA and ocean science

Our ocean, the largest living space on Earth, influences every aspect of our lives. It drives our weather and supports productive fisheries. It attracts millions of us to live and vacation near the coast and sustains our communities and economy. It has been our first line of defense in absorbing the excess heat generated by our continued burning of fossil fuels. A healthy living ocean will play a central role in climate solutions as well.

Ever since President Thomas Jefferson created the U.S. Coastal Survey in 1807, the United States has understood that investing in science to understand the ocean supports our economic prosperity, national security, and public health and safety. This is more critical today than ever.

Protecting the ocean has always been a bipartisan effort: in Congress, across multiple White House administrations, and in the work of national ocean commissions, where I served with Republicans, Democrats, and independents.

Investments to understand and protect the ocean

Nearly 30 years ago, my father David Packard – a business leader and a Republican – recognized the importance of investing in science and technology to understand and protect the ocean. When he created MBARI – the independent Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute – it was because he knew that the ocean was “the most important frontier that we have left.”

The work of private foundations and nonprofit entities like MBARI pales in comparison to the massive investments the U.S. government has made in ocean research – investments whose fruits are available to everyone – free of charge – and that make our lives immeasurably better.

The new administration’s seemingly careless dismissal of science and its very real value to everyone living in the United States strikes a tone that’s quite the opposite of “efficiency.”?

As it takes steps that threaten to downsize and break up NOAA: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and to defund critical federal science capabilities, the administration’s undermining of our nation’s capacity to conduct and use ocean science couldn’t come at a worse time. We can’t afford to weaken public service agencies that help us prepare for weather disasters, particularly as climate change drives fiercer winter storms, produces conditions of drought and deluge, and fuels more powerful hurricanes and fierce winds that fan wildfires.

Ill-conceived attacks with devastating consequences

These ill-conceived attacks on NOAA and other agencies will be devastating for people, our communities, and our economy, as well as our environment. We will all feel the effects, regardless of our political views or the places we call home. In 2024 alone, climate-related natural disasters and extreme weather events cost Americans over $182 billion. That figure would have been vastly higher without the timely information that NOAA provides.?

The case for supporting science and NOAA is clear. This is no time to dismantle, privatize, or significantly diminish its critical services and functions. We all depend on and benefit from a healthy ocean. Now it’s time to join the broad – and growing – coalition that’s stepping up to tell our elected representatives they must halt this ill-considered attack. The evidence that we must support this work continues to grow.

Last week, The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine released a new report, underscoring the need to make major investments for core research in ocean science and to upgrade and replace aging infrastructure to support basic and applied research in ocean studies.

The new administration is careening in exactly the opposite direction.

It's time to use our voices

NOAA and the public servants who staff it serve the American people as they advance their congressionally approved mission to “understand and predict changes in climate, weather, ocean, and coasts; to share that knowledge and information with others, and; to conserve and manage coastal and marine ecosystems and resources.” They do all this at a cost of just six cents per person per day. It’s a small investment that’s been paying big dividends for everyday people for the past 50 years.?

We can use our voices to make a difference for NOAA, and for the ocean. Let’s demand that our representatives in Congress exercise their independent authority to safeguard a functional, reliable agency – one that can continue to support a strong economy, our health and public safety, and our national security.

Collectively, our voices are powerful. When we use them, we can make a difference. Join me in reaching out to your senators and members of Congress by calling them today. You can contact them directly through the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121. If you don’t know who your Member of Congress is, you can find them here.