Guam’s ocean research, reef protection programs facing shutdown in FY2027

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UOG scientist hits Trump administration's proposal to eliminate marine conservation initiatives

By Mar-Vic Cagurangan

Guam’s marine science and conservation initiatives are facing termination amid the Trump administration’s proposal to abolish dozens of research and grant programs under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

NOAA's proposed budget is cut by $1 billion in fiscal 2027, leaving key environmental programs on the chopping block.

“It will affect Guam hugely,” said Dr. Laurie Raymundo, director of the Marine Laboratory at the University of Guam.

“We need federal funding to help us manage and protect our natural resources, particularly in this period of rapidly changing climate, warming seas, human migration, and increasingly severe typhoons,” she added.

Among the initiatives slated for termination are funding pipelines for Guam’s ocean-related programs, including the National Sea Grant College Program, the Coral Reef Conservation Program, Coastal Zone Management Grants, Habitat Conservation and Restoration, and climate-centric programs.

“Much of our conservation, marine management, and research has been funded by NOAA—this program specifically—for decades,” Raymundo said.

The elimination of research, monitoring and resilience programs constitutes a sweeping part of NOAA’s $4.54 billion budget request, which is stamped with Donald Trump’s climate and environmental policy shift.

“This is consistent with the administration's utter refusal to acknowledge climate change and the role of human activities in environmental degradation and the complete lack of concern about the devastating effects environmental carelessness has on our very own health and well-being,” Raymundo said.

The biology professor is a pioneer in coral reef restoration and coral disease research on Guam. In 2019, she launched Guam’s first coral reef nursery dedicated to restoring staghorn Acropora corals.

NOAA’s budget request proposes the termination of its $33.7 million Coral Reef Conservation Program, which funds reef monitoring, coral disease response and local conservation efforts.

“This will hurt badly and is very, very irresponsible,” Raymundo said, noting that Guam has the nation’s most diverse coral reef systems.

Guam is nationally recognized as the Coral Reef Research Center.

Also at risk of abolition is the UOG Center for Island Sustainability and Sea Grant, the regional hub of sustainability research and community outreach.

NOAA proposes to zero out its $80.3 million allocation for the National Sea Grant College Program, jeopardizing UOG Sea Grant’s projects that support community resilience projects and aquaculture development on Guam and the Pacific island region.

Austin Shelton, Sea Grant director, has not responded to the Pacific Island Times’ request for comment.

It is not currently clear how the looming budget slash would affect new research projects recently selected for a two-year grant, including stormwater management, groundwater pollution, coral reef conservation and coastal erosion protection..

Last month, six research projects were picked for the 2026–2028 UOG Sea Grant Competitive Research Funding, with more than $709,000 in grants awarded through the National Sea Grant College Program.

Raymundo’s research, “Transitioning the Malesso Coral Ocean Nursery to a Nursery and Spawning Hub,” is among the projects selected for the current grant cycle.

“We rely—and successfully compete for—grant funding from NOAA's Reef Conservation Program for research that directly supports management and conservation initiatives and practices for Guam,” she said.

“Our NOAA colleagues have meaningful careers and have dedicated their lives to coral reef conservation. And many will suddenly be jobless. It is excruciating to watch,” she added.

NOAA's budget proposal would also seal the shutdown of the Integrated Coastal and Ocean Observation System, a network of instruments that collect data critical to wave monitoring, coastal inundation alerts, weather forecasting and typhoon readiness.

“We rely heavily on data that comes out of NOAA, tracking sea surface temperatures, weather, and ocean water parameters,” Raymundo said.

The Trump administration has announced plans to dismantle the ocean monitors, contradicting the U.S. House of Representatives' move earlier this year to reauthorize the Integrated Coastal and Ocean Observation System Act for five fiscal years, with an annual funding of $56 million.

The planned demolition of the ocean observation infrastructure network comes on the brink of what ocean scientists predict to be one of the worst El Niño cycles in a century.

The National Weather Service Guam forecasts up to seven more storms hitting the Pacific islands.

Landon Aydlett, a meteorologist at NWS Guam, acknowledged the unpredictability of the budget process but assured Guam and other Pacific communities that “our impact on the community is going to remain the same, if not stronger in the future.”

“The weather service’s goal is to be flexible, nimble and eye-to-eye with our partners. We intend to double down on that, especially in the Western North Pacific, working with our homeland security partners, not just on Guam, but also in the CNMI and across all of Micronesia,” Aydlett said at a recent press briefing.

Veronica Verde, external affairs officer at the Federal Emergency Management Agency Region 9, said the agency remains focused on readiness and supporting communities before, during and after disasters.

“Weather forecasts and warnings remain critical tools that help emergency managers,” Verde said. “We continue to coordinate with our federal and territory and local partners to prepare.”

While retreating from marine conservation tasks, NOAA enhances its focus on the core weather mission.

The agency is requesting an additional $2 million, for a total of $500 million, to fund development of the next-generation geostationary satellites, Geostationary Extended Observations.

"GeoXO will meet essential observation needs to support weather forecasting and severe storm warnings and is committed to leveraging the innovation and capabilities of the commercial industry, including the adoption of commercial best practices and technology where possible," the budget document states.

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