My love for the ocean is something that goes so far back I cannot even remember when it truly began.
From childhood holidays at the beach to reading “Rainbow Fish” and listening to Raffi’s “Baby Beluga” until my parents probably wanted to scream, the ocean has always been my fascination.
I did not have the words to say I wanted to be a marine biologist until a second-grade school trip to Sandy Hook (thanks, Mrs. Hurd!).
Several scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) helped us pull nets through the shallows to see what we could find. While many of my classmates were less than thrilled to be digging through mud and sand to discover “slimy” creatures such as horseshoe crabs, jellies and bait fish, I was in heaven.
Here were two people who I could pepper with my endless questions about the ocean. They took the time to answer everything I threw at them and were the first to show me how I could turn my passion into a career.
After many years of hard work and road bumps, I am sure that childhood version of myself would be thrilled to see I am living out that dream - I know this current version of me is.
However, recent federal funding cuts are threatening not just this dream but also my community along with it.
The work that NOAA does contributes to society across a wide spectrum; from marine life to weather patterns, they cover it all.
This is especially important both for coastal communities, where large tides, sometimes with flooding, and the potential for hurricanes are part of the cost of living along the ocean, as well as inland, where farmers rely on rain forecasts or residents receive severe storm warnings.
Research from NOAA informs us and protects our community from these threats. For example, the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) is responsible for maintaining sensors that collect data for hurricane forecasts and coastal flooding as well as ensuring data flow.
This program provides a 5:1 return on investment, but its budget is currently slated to be fully cut, according to the recent budget passback.
Without these vital tools, we lose the capability to predict the severity of a storm, if it will be a Category 1 or a Category 5, if it will hit at high tide or low tide, and if it will move through quickly or stall out over us and increase the amount of rainfall.
As we learned with Sandy, this is all vital information that equips people to make decisions for their personal safety and the well-being of their property.
Additionally, ecosystem research is vital to maintain industries such as fisheries and tourism. Recent oil spills, such as the one off the coast of Louisiana, highlight this need to understand how species interact with each other, how we impact them and how we can mitigate harm to ensure these populations are flourishing for generations to come.
While most research is conducted within a specific geographic area, by maintaining a national organization, regional research groups can maintain connections. Wildlife and storms do not adhere to state boundaries; NOAA provides the essential link between different state or local agencies. This allows scientists to gain a fuller picture of what is happening. This open exchange of data and ideas is essential to scientific discovery and development.
Beyond providing the information to assist in very real life-or-death decisions, NOAA is the gold standard for every marine biologist because of what it stands for. As federal researchers, we proudly work toward generating research in the public interest and producing resources for the common good.
While perhaps not as lucrative as working for a private company, it has always come with an immense sense of pride in one’s work. While private companies own all data for any projects they may fund, any federally funded research is for the public, and so are all data and discoveries.
All datasets are made available to the public, so they can be used as a teaching tool for data analytics and even re-analyzed for previously unnoticed discoveries. Locals can access the data and predict where the fish will be biting on any given day.
And scientists get to work with excited first-graders, like I once was. They get to share their passion for the ocean and answer the burning questions of a child who might grow up to be a part of the next generation of scientists.
Megan Howson
Editor’s note: Howson, who grew up in Sparta, is a marine mammal biologist and data scientist at Gulf of America Coastal Ocean Observing System (GCOOS) in Savannah, Ga.