NOAA Staffing Cuts Threaten Years of Salmon Harvests

In Washington State, April is when millions of young Chinook salmon are released from hatcheries, where they started as tiny, pink globes, to swim downstream and rebuild the salmon population. They are part of an ecosystem that affects tribal, commercial, and recreational fishing and are a main source of food for endangered killer whales.

But this year, almost a dozen hatcheries in the Puget Sound region are in limbo because a single employee from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was terminated in February, a casualty of cuts made by billionaire Elon Musk’s advisory group known as the Department of Government Efficiency.

That employee was Krista Finlay and her job at NOAA was to ensure hatcheries complied with the Endangered Species Act before the fish were released into Puget Sound. She was among tens of thousands of federal employees with probationary status who lost their jobs in February. Ms. Finlay, who had worked at NOAA since March 2024 after more than two years as an intern and then fellow, said she feared for the salmon run.

“If I don’t release millions and millions of salmon, there’s less this year and years going forward,” Ms. Finlay said. “If we don’t have salmon returning in 2027 and 2028, we don’t have offspring to release the following year, so it will take many, many years to repair this, if it’s even possible.”

Since January, the Trump administration has cut more than 56,000 employees across dozens of federal agencies — ranging from workers who fight wildfires on federal land to those who research vaccines to prevent the next pandemic. Some employees have been reinstated while many others are still on administrative leave and unable to do their work.

In response to a request for comment, Rachel Hager, a public affairs officer with NOAA Fisheries, wrote in an email that “Per long-standing practice, we are not discussing internal personnel and management matters.”