Trump plan to cut NOAA, kill SeaGrant, alarms Maine marine industries

In this morning's Portland Press Herald, I report on the reaction to President Trump's proposal to dramatically cut funding to NOAA, the government's principle marine-related agency, including killing the 50-year old Sea Grant program entirely.

The University of Maine is one of the nation's 33 Sea Grant universities, and he marine community is expressing alarm at the proposal, which also effects fisheries management, weather forecasting, and Earth observation from space, including documenting climate change. (The latter a major concern in the Gulf of Maine region.)

I've previously reported on how Trump's "2-for-1" regulatory reform order is expected to paralyze big picture fisheries management, and how an early plan to eliminate NASA satellite monitoring of Earth would upend Maine-based research into the changing climate.

[Update, 3/10/17: The NOAA cuts also imperil the Wells Reserve and 29 other estuary reserves across the country.]