Biden-Harris Administration, NOAA Announced $147.5 Million to Transform NOAA Data Collection and Analysis

Today, the Biden-Harris Administration announced its $147.5 million Inflation Reduction Act investment to strengthen NOAA's science and management capabilities that support climate-ready fisheries . This funding will enable NOAA to modernize its science enterprise, delivering critical information and tools to support decision-making and adaptation strategies for rapidly changing marine ecosystems.

"This funding, made possible thanks to President Biden's historic Inflation Reduction Act, will make our nation's fisheries, protected species, and coastal communities more resilient to the impacts of climate change," said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. "By strengthening NOAA's scientific efforts to help us better understand and plan for changing marine conditions, we are making smart investments in the economic and climate resilience of communities across our entire country."

NOAA Fisheries will use $107.5 million to enhance science and data collection to account for the effects of climate change and improve fish and marine mammal stock assessments. This funding will modernize and transform the agency's technological capabilities, and broaden the scope of observations that NOAA collects using innovative methods like uncrewed systems , remote sensing and environmental DNA collection .

Another $40 million will fund the Climate, Ecosystems, and Fisheries Initiative to provide resource managers and fishing communities with the information they need to build resilience and adapt to changing marine ecosystems. This initiative will establish an operational decision-support system to track changes in marine ecosystems, and assess risks to valuable resources and the communities who depend on them. It will also identify options for reducing risks and bolstering resilience in the face of changing climate and ocean conditions.

To implement the initiative, NOAA will allocate $20 million to NOAA Fisheries and $4 million to NOAA's National Ocean Service to enhance regional capacity to forecast future ecosystem conditions, evaluate risks and provide actionable advice for climate-informed resource management and community adaptation. To support these efforts, an additional $16 million will go to NOAA Research to develop the state-of-the-art forecasts and long-term projections of ocean and Great Lakes conditions needed to evaluate risks and identify strategies for adaptation and resilience.

"The climate crisis means warming oceans, rising sea levels, diminishing sea ice and increasing acidification - all profoundly impacting coastal ecosystems and every aspect of NOAA's mission," said Assistant Administrator for NOAA Fisheries Janet Coit. "We have an unprecedented opportunity to advance our scientific understanding of our rapidly changing ocean and deliver critical information to communities that depend on healthy marine ecosystems."

This funding is part of the historic $3.3 billion in Inflation Reduction Act investments that NOAA first announced in June 2023, which is focused on ensuring America's communities and economies are ready for and resilient to climate change. It complements other Inflation Reduction Act priority areas and NOAA Fisheries mission efforts, including the revised Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management Road Map .

Learn more about NOAA Fisheries' Inflation Reduction Act priority investments in climate-ready fisheries and coasts.

Media contact

Andrea Wasilew

[email protected] , (541) 639-5002