MILWAUKEE — As Wisconsin anglers enjoyed the opening of inland fishing season last Saturday, researchers warn that looming federal budget cuts could jeopardize the very science that helps protect the Great Lakes.
The proposed 2026 federal budget includes a 25% reduction — nearly $1.5 billion — to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). That could gut funding for research programs monitoring water quality, weather conditions and fish populations across the region.
Lake Michigan, often viewed as a clean and stable freshwater source, is at the center of the concern.
For over two decades, Dr. Harvey Bootsma, professor and associate dean at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s School of Freshwater Sciences, has overseen a network of buoys in Lake Michigan that track environmental conditions in real-time — from wind speed and temperature to oxygen levels and harmful algae blooms.
“This is what’s called a water quality sonde,” said Bootsma during a shoreline demonstration. “It measures everything from water temperature to dissolved oxygen to the amount of plankton in the water.”
According to Bootsma, just one buoy off Atwater Beach is accessed more than 30,000 times a season by boaters, researchers, educators and anglers across the state.
“It supports human safety. It supports shipping. It supports sport fishing. It supports research,” he said. “If we stopped getting funding from NOAA for these buoys, a lot of people would be disappointed — and potentially put at risk.”
Bootsma’s lab is part of the Great Lakes Observing System, which receives nearly 95% of its $4.2 million budget from NOAA. That funding is now under threat of being cut.
At the opposite end of the state, Deanna Erickson directs the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve in Superior, one of only two such reserves on the Great Lakes. Last year, she said her program received nearly $881,000 from NOAA, which covers about 70% of its operating costs.
“The work we do over many years helps protect the water quality that we drink, that supports tourism, that supports fishing and shipping,” said Erickson. “It’s a critical part of who we are in Wisconsin.”
The potential cuts would not only impact universities like UW-Milwaukee and UW-Madison, but also the broader ecosystem and industries tied to clean water, particularly the fishing industry, as it entered one of its most important weekends of the year on Saturday.
“I mean, as soon as our buoy stops working and we pull it out of the water, we start getting calls immediately,” said Bootsma. “That tells us how many people rely on the data from the buoys. If we stopped getting funding from NOAA for these buoys, a lot of people will be disappointed.”