June 29, 2017 — The federal agency that oversees hurricane research and manages fisheries along the nation’s southeast coast faces an overhaul and potential downsizing that could cripple partnerships that have made Miami a leader in the world of marine and atmospheric science.
While unrelated, the timing of the two moves — possibly relocating the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries headquarters from Virginia Key to St. Petersburg and pending budget cuts to the climate science program there — amount to a double whammy for the research hub and a brain drain for the region.
“It’s a big hit,” said Ben Kirtman, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science and director of NOAA’s Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies or CIMAS. Kirtman fears a “tyranny of distance” would all but end collaborations that began when the Fisheries headquarters opened across the street from the university in 1965.
“In science, it’s very difficult to do interdisciplinary work. It’s a real challenge because you speak difference languages. And that’s where a lot of the big breakthroughs come from,” he said. “When you’re separated by floors in the same building, it’s hard to collaborate, let alone if you’re across the state.”
Built at a time when ocean science was rapidly expanding, the Fisheries headquarters on the scrubby island represented years of collaboration between the agency and Rosenstiel. After the university started a marine lab in 1943, federal fisheries officials opened offices first on the Coral Gables campus, then followed the school labs to Virginia Key. In 1972, a partnership was struck for the cooperative institute, which along with 13 other such agreements around the country provide the basic research for NOAA missions. In 2015, NOAA awarded $125 to CIMAS, which includes Florida International University and other university programs in South Florida, to continue its efforts that include weather research for the Oceanic and Atmospheric Research program.