We’ve heard about mass federal layoffs, departments closing, new hires being let go, and longtime employees being shown the door. But the news has been so big and so widespread that it’s been hard to drill down on the actual impact. In truth, some of that we may just not know yet.
But it might help to look at this on a smaller scale: the impact of the loss of just one person who worked at the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary off the Texas Gulf Coast.
Sepp Haukebo, who is the chair of the Sanctuary’s Advisory Council and works for the Environmental Defense Fund, joined the Standard with the details. Listen to the interview in the player above or read the transcript below.
This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:
Texas Standard: The job loss we’re focusing on is that of Marissa Nuttall. She worked at the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary for more than 17 years, but she recently took on a new role, which I understand made her vulnerable to the administration’s actions?
Sepp Haukebo: Yes, that’s correct. So Marissa was a contractor for 17 years, and just recently is when she was hired on as a federal employee. And her roles included unit dive supervisor, but she was also the permit coordinator and the lead scientist for several key projects with local universities, but also with [the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management].
To the average listener, what did Marissa do at the sanctuary?
Yeah, Marissa wore many hats. But as unit dive supervisor, she was directly responsible for implementing safety protocols. And that included overseeing dive operations and really ensuring compliance with NOAA’s diving regulations.
Now when you think about the Flower Garden Banks, the closest bank is 80 miles offshore of Galveston. But the Banks and the sanctuary stretch all the way to offshore Louisiana.
So this is a pretty remote environment. They had to be exceptional at what they do in their dive operations, and that included both research dives, but also dives to install or even maintain their extensive mooring buoy system, which is used by dive boats, but also recreational fishing boats and any boats that might be in distress, 80 miles offshore.
And it’s illegal to drop any sort of anchor within the sanctuary boundaries. So those mooring buoys are both a safety device but also help keep the corals and the ecosystem safe.
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I’m sure the sanctuary is trying to figure out how to make up for the work that Marissa did, but what kind of loss is that in the meantime?
Yeah, so anybody that has dove or managed any sort of safety operations, you can imagine losing basically your head safety officer. And when that comes to something as technical as diving, that throws the whole operation and the mission of especially the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary into a bit of disarray.
Now, when you also, anybody that’s sat and spoken with Marissa knows just how knowledgeable she is. And there’s something like 200 plus fish species, over 20 coral species, and Marissa can rattle those off – common names, scientific names – as quickly as you can ask the questions.
When we have some really technical meetings for the Sanctuary Advisory Council or any kind of planning meeting, usually it’s folks that look to Marissa when there’s a really technical question that comes up. So losing that expertise has an impact on both the management aspect of the National Marine Sanctuary, but also, like I said, that dive and research component.
And you think about all the different things that the sanctuary provides to the local communities – whether it’s recreational fishing, commercial fishing, recreational diving – that’s a big impact, not just to folks that care about conservation and management, but also people that their livelihoods depend on these healthy ecosystems.
Have you heard about efforts to get Marissa back or raise a flag about how this loss is hurting?
Absolutely. So, you know, of course, there’s only so much that NOAA staff can do. A lot of these decisions were coming down from the administration.
There was a time where some of these staff were brought back on for administrative leave when there was a court case that was upheld. Now there’s a couple other court cases that have rolled out. There was even the Supreme Court decision that some of these terminations can go on.
So, it creates a lot of pandemonium, and especially at a critical time when these government entities are preparing for a long summer research period.
Or you can look at all the other things that NOAA does from hurricane forecasting to tornado warnings to managing our nation’s fisheries. The impacts are broad across not just this National Marine Sanctuary’s office, but also across NOAA as a whole.
Haukebo added after the interview that he wanted to add a mention of reporting that cuts to NOAA are not saving significant taxpayer dollars.
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Is there anything else you’d like Texans to know about what’s going on at Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary?
Yeah, for anybody that’s not familiar with it, it’s one of the healthiest coral reef ecosystems in the world, which is really hard to believe at a time where you see mass bleaching events across the Caribbean or the Great Barrier Reef, just to know that we have really a global gem in our own backyard.
Check it out on their website, look up some pictures, look up some videos. If you can, go out there and dive. Learn a little bit more about this by enjoying that place.
And if you’re compelled, reach out to folks that can make a difference. Reach out to your representatives. Reach out state and national leaders and let them know this is a place that matters to you. And it’s important for us to maintain these special places and the staff that make them special.
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