Wielding both literal and figurative chainsaws, Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency have gutted the federal workforce in recent weeks. While some of the affected agencies are relatively well known, others are less familiar to the public, despite the enormous contributions they make to our society.

As long-time marine conservationists, we share profound concerns about cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA. 

With sub-agencies such as the National Weather Service, National Ocean Service and NOAA Fisheries, NOAA serves the American public in many ways, including providing real-time weather information, managing ocean and coastal habitats and overseeing commercial fisheries and bycatch issues in federal waters. It is responsible for implementing (or co-implementing) several bedrock environmental and wildlife conservation laws, including the Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act, as well as myriad international treaties. Yet, because the agency also engages in climate change research, many politicians apparently feel justified sabotaging marine ecosystem management, vital ocean and atmospheric research, and international conservation initiatives like the International Whaling Commission. 

While NOAA in its current form was established by Congress in 1970, major components of the agency, including the Weather Bureau and commissions that manage fishery resources, date to the 1800s, making NOAA the oldest scientific agency in the nation. Following decades of dolphins dying in tuna nets, factory ships harpooning great whales and sport hunting of polar bears, a bipartisan Congress enacted the Marine Mammal Protection Act in 1972, to protect marine mammals and their ecosystems from unregulated exploitation. Under the Fishery Conservation and Management Act, enacted in 1976, NOAA expanded its role to conserve and oversee fishery resources in federal waters and prevent overfishing, especially by foreign fleets, allowing overfished stocks to recover. 

Under the second Trump administration, however, NOAA and its management and conservation mandates are in grave peril. 

Initial reports indicated plans to slash the agency’s workforce by 20 percent and its budget by 30 percent, in line with broader efforts to dismantle climate-related agencies and privatize weather data. The initial round of layoffs began late last month, despite the administration’s failure to follow appropriate legal procedures. 

When a hurricane is bearing down somewhere along the coastal U.S., it is NOAA that provides the public with free, lifesaving alerts. When fishers along the East Coast need to know about severe weather, their survival at sea depends on NOAA weather forecasts. When American farmers need information about the next significant rainfall or frost event, they count on NOAA. 

Now, the Trump administration has informed NOAA that two major weather forecasting centers, including its Center for Weather and Climate Prediction, will have their leases terminated. Companies such as the Musk-owned SpaceX, which could begin charging users to access weather forecasts that NOAA already provides for free, stand ready to reap the benefits of DOGE’s political maneuvers. 

For over 50 years, the Marine Mammal Protection Act and Endangered Species Act, under NOAA’s watch, have successfully safeguarded wildlife from harm, prevented population declines and facilitated recovery of depleted populations, while allowing American industries such as commercial fishing and shipping to prosper. Despite a history of strong bipartisan support, these laws face growing political threats that could result in diminished protection for wildlife at a critical time in human history. 

America’s iconic species are already paying the price of corporate greed.  

Last month, the federal government rescinded a 2023 directive that outlined recommended speed and distance restrictions for the oil and gas industry “in the Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf” to better protect critically endangered Rice’s whales, also known as “America’s whale.” The estimated 50 remaining Rice’s whales already face an uncertain future due to pollution, oil and gas exploration and extraction, ocean noise, entanglement in fishing gear and vessel strikes. Exacerbating these challenges could spell their demise and significantly impact the health of the Gulf ecosystem, upon which millions of people rely. 

Further complicating matters, NOAA staff have been ordered to halt all “non-essential” national and international activities. Such short-sighted policies damage U.S. efforts to combat illegal fishing and regulate seafood imports, both of which benefit the American seafood industry. 

The multipronged assault against NOAA has already encountered strong opposition, including a recent letter to Congress from more than 380 businesses and nonprofit organizations, two public rallies organized to protest the mass layoffs, and an open letter to Congress from former NOAA Administrator Dr. Richard Spinrad and other retired agency leaders. These actions affirm NOAA’s essential work and the adverse impact of current Trump administration policies.  

We must demand that our congressional leaders — who, unlike Musk, were elected — intervene to reverse this myopic and politically motivated hatchet job. 

Georgia Hancock is the marine wildlife program director at the Animal Welfare Institute. Doug DeMaster, Ph.D., is a retired science and research director for NOAA Fisheries, Alaska Region.