LA JOLLA (KGTV) — You know how people say there are plenty of fish in the sea? That's because every year, researchers go out into the ocean to collect data that prevents overfishing.
"To say look, based on all this data, here's how many fish we can pull out of the water sustainably and here's how many we need to leave in the water so there's more fish to catch in the future," said Brice Semmens at Scripps Institute of Oceanography.
Semmens says that work and much more is in jeopardy. After the Trump administration ordered the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Institute also called NOAA to reduce staffing.
"If we lose that, we're in great peril of losing some of the huge economic engine that the ocean provides here in Southern California," Semmens said.
Semmens is the Director of California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations, also called Cal COFI. It's the world's largest and longest running ocean ecosystem monitoring program made up of scientists from Scripps and NOAA. He says many NOAA technicians who were crucial to their operation were laid off in the recent federal cutbacks.
"What's going to happen without those technicians?"
"We're trying to actually onboard those technicians within Scripps Oceanography at UC San Diego so we can at least hire them temporarily. We don't know where the money's coming from but it's something we need to do to maintain continuity in our program."
Semmens says the program has also helped monitor chemicals dumped into the ocean after the Los Angeles fires, and the effects on local wildlife. He says they're going to move forward with their work, although the long-term financial impact could be substantial.
