The NOAA Pacific Fisheries Environmental Lab in Pacific Grove, California is slated to be shut down as part of President Obama's proposed budget. We're calling on California's congressional delegation to stand for the ocean environment and the communities of Monterey Bay and stop the terrible funding cuts that will kill this important research institution.
Dear Members of Congress,
The president’s budget was released on Monday, February 13th and in it, the NOAA Pacific Fisheries Environmental Lab in Pacific Grove is proposed to be shut down. In the current economic climate, We understand the need for cost-cutting and reduction in government, but losing the Pacific Grove lab would be a great loss to both NOAA and to the central California community.
As part of NOAA, the Pacific Fisheries Environmental Lab is a critical part of the team working on Integrated Ecosystem Assessments in the California current, an approach to operationalize ecosystem-based management and to provide trade-offs for proposed management actions. In addition their breadth and expertise in research on the effects of ocean variability on the California current ecosystem and fisheries could be lost.
More importantly, can we afford to lose their role in the local scientific and civic community? NOAA PFEL has ongoing collaborations with Stanford University, the Center for Ocean Solutions, the Monterey Bay Aquarium and its research institute (MBARI), the Naval Postgraduate School, and Moss Landing Marine Labs to understand how both natural and human-driven changes in ocean processes affect our ocean and its services. These activities make this area one of the strongest in the country in marine research. Recently, NOAA PFEL employees worked closely with the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History to display a Blue Seas / Green Seas exhibit on the building’s mural depicting oceanic processes here in California waters, and the research of the lab. Such outreach is just one of many ways PFEL gives back to the local community.
We implore you to reconsider whether Pacific Grove and the region would be best served by losing this lab and its research capabilities. While some employees may move to Santa Cruz or La Jolla, there is a good chance that marketable employees may decide to move elsewhere and the benefits to both NOAA and the local community could be lost. Their presence in Pacific Grove would be missed.
Sincerely,
[Your name here]
