BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 27, 2024
House Republicans have proposed slashing funding in the FY24 budget for essential climate change and extreme weather research. The current House proposal forbids NOAA from studying the climate’s effects on fisheries and would effectively zero out Coastal Zone Management grants, funding that helps states sustainably manage healthy and productive coasts and benefit the working waterfronts and surrounding communities. Maine’s fisheries industry will suffer for it. As our oceans get warmer and more storms like the two recent January storms loom on the horizon, it’s essential that NOAA gets more funding, not less, to best support coastal communities, fisheries and hospitality businesses that depend on our oceans. We are living with climate change, and its impacts will continue to get more severe. ~ Bill Mook, Newcastle, Mook Sea Farm