March 4, 2025 — As chaos and uncertainty continue to be unleashed on federal agencies thanks to the policies of the Trump administration, the Ocean State’s blue economy is just starting to feel those downstream impacts.
While federal jobs by themselves don’t play an outsized role in the state’s economy, many functions of scientific marine research, marine resource management, and commercial fishing rely heavily on federal initiatives or funding.
The past few weeks have seen 800 probationary employees at the federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration fired without cause, and further deep cuts to agency staffing are expected by a March 13 deadline issued by the White House to its federal agency chiefs.
Many of the federal grants awarded to states, nonprofits or other nongovernmental agencies remain frozen and inaccessible, despite multiple court orders from multiple district judges to turn the funding spigot back on.