Shortly after noon on Feb. 27, 800 probationary employees were abruptly terminated from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). We are three of those former employees — a physical scientist, ecologist and science communicator. Our termination letters stated our “ability, knowledge and/or skills do not fit the Agency’s current needs.”

We believe that these firings undermine NOAA’s ability to fulfill its mission on behalf of the American people.

Our former colleagues must now cover our workloads, and proposed large-scale reductions in force and budget cuts threaten to further weaken NOAA’s ability to fulfill its mission. As probationary employees who recently joined the federal service, we represented NOAA’s future. Our mentors were training us to become effective leaders, responsible for the stewardship of our marine resources and ensuring healthy ecosystems and thriving fish stocks for generations to come.

NOAA’s mission is to:

Understand and predict changes in climate, weather, oceans and coasts.

Conserve and manage coastal and marine ecosystems and resources.

Share that knowledge and information with others.

Allison worked as a physical scientist who helped NOAA understand and predict changes in climate, weather, oceans and coasts. The North Pacific Ocean has warmed faster than any other basin over the past decade, triggering marine heat waves that disrupt California’s coastal ecosystems, highlighting the need to prepare for heat waves and long-term changes. Allison helped validate and advance next-generation ocean models and forecasts to deliver fisheries managers with the best available science to maintain healthy fish stocks for decades to come.

Heather worked as an ecologist who helped NOAA conserve and manage coastal and marine ecosystems and resources. Endangered loggerhead turtles often appear off the coast of Los Angeles during marine heat waves, and she helped develop a tool to help the local swordfish fleet reduce the accidental catch (bycatch) of loggerheads. Heather was also working on a forecasting tool to warn of increased loggerhead bycatch risk, similar to a weather forecast. She was collaborating with the West Coast Take Reduction Team to reduce the entanglement of blue and humpback whales in five fisheries, including California’s spot prawn and Dungeness crab fisheries.

Matt worked as a science communicator to share this information and data with others. He was the communications lead for $150 million of NOAA initiatives, including programs to increase the speed, range, and efficiency of NOAA’s field surveys. These surveys tell us how many fish, whales, and endangered species are in our ocean, including some of California’s most iconic species such as gray whales, California sea lions, and squid. Matt also supported programs that forecast future changes in ocean conditions, allowing U.S. fleets to sustainably fish in the face of climate change. His work ensured government transparency by making the complex science performed by civil servants accessible to fisheries managers, Congress, and the American taxpayer.

We need NOAA’s 50-plus years of institutional knowledge now more than ever. Since 2021, each year has surpassed the last as the hottest on record. A powerful tropical storm recently struck Los Angeles for the first time in 84 years. Salmon fishing has been closed in California for the past two seasons due to declining populations.

NOAA provides the information and tools that Americans need to navigate these unprecedented changes. We should be investing in people and programs that offer solutions — not terminating them. The stakes are high. Reckless cuts could lead to irreversible damage: collapsing fish stocks, unpredictable extreme weather, and the erasure of the next generation of civil servants.

Heather Welch, Allison Cluett and Matt Koller are three former NOAA employees in Monterey who were terminated Feb. 27. More than 1,000 more NOAA workers were set to be fired Thursday.