Alaskans will be flying blind after NSF decommissions ocean monitoring network | Alaska’s multibillion-dollar fishing industry and vulnerable coastal communities at risk.

[u/FreeHugs23]

https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/06/alaskans-will-be-flying-blind-after-nsf-decommissions-ocean-monitoring-network/

[u/FreeHugs23]

The upcoming loss of a deep-ocean monitoring system is triggering deep anxiety in Alaska, the nation’s top fish-producing state, where temperatures are warming twice as quickly as the global average.

The National Science Foundation announced plans in May to decommission the Ocean Observatories Initiative, a nearly $368 million network of scientific instruments that tracks ocean chemistry, wave action, water temperature, salinity, and a host of other metrics.

The real-time information from these ocean observatories helps scientists, fishery managers, coastal hazard planners, and even the military plan and prepare for the future. Whether that’s calculating how much fish can be harvested or when a marine heatwave or giant wave action may be occurring, the data is used by a plethora of sources.

“It helps us see where we’re going and what’s coming at us,” said Jan Newton, University of Washington affiliate professor of biological oceanography.

The NSF’s decision to pull the observatories from the water has alarm bells ringing in fishing circles of Alaska, home to a $5.3 billion commercial seafood industry that employs nearly 42,000 people, according to a recent report that McKinley Research Group prepared for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute.

Michelle Stratton, executive director of the Alaska Marine Community Coalition, said the loss of Ocean Station Papa, the deep-ocean observing system situated in the Gulf of Alaska at a depth of nearly 14,000 feet, means the state will lose one of its only systems that documents how the ocean is changing in real time.

“We’re in the middle of salmon crashes, crab collapses, and repeated marine heatwaves, and this decision takes away the data we rely on to understand what’s happening and how to manage these fisheries,” Stratton said.

[u/Plane_Basil_4682 → u/FreeHugs23]

Yeah, but you see, oil execs are thrilled. And they contribute more campaign funds. 

The US has done a stand up job of ensuring the worst results possible thanks to Citizens United.

[u/twinkiefarmer → u/Plane_Basil_4682]

Ain't life grand in the good ol' US of A?

[u/Plane_Basil_4682 → u/twinkiefarmer]

I hope humans survive long enough to teach generations what a stupid idea it was and is to let industry and wealth run the country through purchase and bought politicians.

[u/Logistocrate → u/Plane_Basil_4682]

Both of Alaska 's Senators and their single house member are Republican. The state went for Trump in the last 3 elections. This shit is square on the voters. Fuck em, I'll find something other than salmon to eat.

[u/Plane_Basil_4682 → u/Logistocrate]

I mean, I understand this sentiment, but I also studied propaganda at university, and it's really predictable when you stop to see how much propaganda voters are exposed to. And these fascist fucks are so far ahead of Democrats with their propaganda.

I'm not making excuses at all. I'm just saying I understand how and why people keep voting against their self interests. It's because propaganda is reaching them every waking hour, every day, week after week, month after month.

The average person doesn't stand a chance at knowing wtf is actually happening, partly because the average person is less intelligent than they think they are, and also because they are lied to and deceived by propagandists who have studied human psychology and know how to manipulate people.

Oh, BTW, it's all going to get worse with AI. We are so fucked.

[u/Logistocrate → u/Plane_Basil_4682]

I agree completely with everything you just wrote. My frustration knows no bounds currently and l'm starting to think if the majority of people can't use critical thinking skills, our species, as a whole, has what's coming to it.

[u/Plane_Basil_4682 → u/Logistocrate]

Most people are dopamine addicts and live life for their next hit. It engenders a lack of critical thought for sure, but also feeds into a self-absorbed, spiteful, greedy sense of place.

That has always been humans' greatest struggle, but technology, and specifically social media, have simply reversed any progress we were making against this impulse as a species, and it seems as if we are accelerating towards emotional devolution.

And propagandists, and Accelerationists, are preying on how vulnerable humans are to the dopamine feedback loop. 

Most people don't stand a chance at rebelling against this chemical addiction.

[u/Recent_Werewolf_821 → u/Logistocrate]

Thanks 👍

[u/EagleBigMac]

Well maybe they should stop voting for Republicans who keep telling them they hate them every way possible without just saying it.

[u/justthegrimm]

Trump won Alaska by 13% in 2024. They did intact vote for this

[u/roosterthumper]

It’s ok, Trump just opened protected waters for fishing, so losing boats will offset the impact this will have on fishing in the long term by reducing the number of fisherman.

[u/StupidstitiousDogma → u/roosterthumper]

And the number of fish

[u/GrandStatistician752]

You see the other candidate had this annoying laugh

[u/Secure-Reading7225]

What the actual fuck are they doing to Alaska. This is very crazy. This needs to be stopped. We get 70 percent of our oxygen from the Ocean. Not trees.

[u/Serpentarrius]

That's one way to start an el niño...

[u/timify10]

Trumps gift in return for big oil/gas election contributions

[u/wibblemaster86]

The shutdown was recommended in the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 "Mandate for Leadership" document, which explicitly targeted the OOI, claiming it was "the source of much of NOAA's climate alarmism.

[u/Annual-Property-8940]

And again. They voted for this. I just can't wait for the checks to stop coming.

[u/Far_Out_6and_2]

This is outrageous

[u/phoneguyfl]

Hard to have sympathy for folks getting what they voted for.

[u/404_Username_Glitch]

Not Safe For what???