Feb. 13, 2025
The War on Science: Why NOAA and the EPA Are Under Attack
In this episode, we explore the alarming assault on science happening within the U.S. government, specifically targeting NOAA (National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration) and the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). Discover how these...
In this episode, we explore the alarming assault on science happening within the U.S. government, specifically targeting NOAA (National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration) and the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). Discover how these essential organizations are being undermined, why it matters for our planet, and what we can do to support evidence-based decision-making in environmental policies.
Join us as we unpack the critical role of NOAA and the EPA in protecting our environment and why their work is more vital than ever. 🌍
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Transcript
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There is a war on science right now in
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the US government that are
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targeting NOAA, the National
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Oceanographic and Atmospheric
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Administration and the EPA, the
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Environmental Protection Agency,
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by the Department of Government
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Efficiency, Doge, headed by Elon Musk.
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He's not even an elected
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official. Congresspeople and senators are
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not happy with the way
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things are going. And on this
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episode of the How to Protect the Ocean
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podcast, we're going to talk about the
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cuts that we've seen
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this in the past, not only at the other
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Trump administration, but
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also in Canada back in the
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early 2010s. We're going to talk about
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that on today's episode of
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the How to Protect the Ocean
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podcast. Let's start the show. Hey,
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everybody, welcome back to another
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exciting episode of the
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How to Protect the Ocean podcast. I'm
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your host, Andrew Loew. And
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this is the podcast where you
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find out what's happening with the ocean,
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how you can speak up for
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the ocean and what you need to
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live for a better ocean by taking action.
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And I'll tell you, all three
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things need to happen right
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now. We are seeing a lot of just
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dismantling of infrastructure and funding
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that has been put into
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place for decades for a lot of ocean
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protection. And that's why
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we're talking about this today.
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The Trump administration has allowed Elon
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Musk and his Department of
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Government Efficiency, Doge,
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to go into various departments and go in
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and just essentially dismantle
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everything. It's a really
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interesting yet scary situation for a lot
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of the people. There have been
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accusations and these are
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only accusations at this point. I haven't
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seen any evidence of intimidation like
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this being accused of
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by Doge officials to essentially bully
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people into giving up
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whatever they have. There's been
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accusations of eliminating documents.
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There's been accusations of freezing
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funding. And there have
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been a lot of accusations of just these
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employees that are actually
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showing up on the department,
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like the EPA's staff list, and just kind
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of integrating
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themselves into the Environmental
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Protection Agency. Whether they qualify
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to be in the Environmental Protection
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Agency or NOAA or any of
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the other departments, we're not sure. We
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don't know who the people
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are. There have been a number
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of videos that have come out showing
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government officials trying
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to get into the EPA, trying to
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get into the Department of Education, and
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they're not allowed.
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They've been denied by security.
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They've been told, "Hey, we're going to
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get somebody. We'll figure this out, but
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you have to stay here.
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You have to stay outside and you have to
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wait." Obviously not ideal
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when members of Congress,
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members of the Senate cannot get access
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to find out what's happening
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with all of these departments.
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What cuts are happening? Where's the
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money going? Is it even
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legal to do some of these cuts?
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That's what's really happening here. And
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that's the scary part of
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this situation. So I'm going to
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run through some of the things that I've
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been able to gather and
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figure out what's been happening.
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So there's been a takeover at NOAA's
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headquarters in Virginia,
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highlighting a number of different
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concerns with potential impacts on
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weather forecasting,
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cybersecurity, and employee morale.
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It also touches upon the removal of
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diversity and inclusion materials and the
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broader implications
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of public access to crucial safety
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information during disasters.
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So there's been a lot of just
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things that have been happening that's
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kind of crazy. So with NOAA,
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some of the things that they
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look after, they look after the weather
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system, like weather forecasting, they
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look after sustainability
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and economics fisheries monitoring, they
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look after the Marine
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Mountain Protection Act falls
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under there, the Marine Sanctuaries Act
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also falls under there,
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ocean protection in general falls
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there. Not only within the exclusive
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economic zone of the US, including
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Alaska, including Hawaii,
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including the Gulf of Mexico, the
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Atlantic, and the Pacific, but also
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abroad. There's a lot of
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international work that's been done that
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have as of now has been halted. And I
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want to go through
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with some of the things
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that's going to happen. And I'll do that
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in just a sec. Before I want
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to just talk about the overall
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things, I talked about employee morale
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bring down the government wants to slash
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50% of NOAA employee
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staff. Doge, headed by Leland Musk, wants
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to slash 50% of the workforce for NOAA.
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So that's the 13,000
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people work there approximately, they
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want to bring it down to approximately
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6,500. That eliminates
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one, a lot of jobs, but also
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eliminates a lot of the work that's been
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done by all those people. NOAA is a
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leader in research, in
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monitoring, in conservation.
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They set a lot of the times the standard
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because they have so much funding,
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because they have access to so many
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different types of oceanographic
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instrumentation. They work with other
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governments in international waters to
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understand not only their
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waters and what's happening
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in their waters, but also just understand
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weather patterns and climate change
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around the world. All of this is going to
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be eliminated. We're going to talk a
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little bit about what's happening in a
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bit. But yeah, essentially all these
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international government programs have
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been stopped. And I'm going to talk a
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little bit about that right now. So
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climate change and climate modeling. So
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NOAA collaborates, like I said, with
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international partners to do modeling and
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monitoring climate change systems. The
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studies include impacts of greenhouse
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gases, ocean heat uptake, sea level rise,
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and climate variability.
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So NOAA is a major role in monitoring the
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health of international waters through programs like the Argo Float System, which collect ocean temperature, salinity, and current data. Also collaborates in global initiatives such as the Global Ocean Observing System, GOOS, to track ocean health currents and the global climate change.
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They also take care of like monitoring
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shark populations. So we just did an
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interview over on the beyond jaws podcast
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talking about the updates to the sort of
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the overall stock assessment of the Ocean
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White Test. This is to make sure that everybody
understands how the metric of ocean
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congrats could go. And so we historically just said this disconnect between the over target you mentioned down top, ocean perception, the andTrack defeated report that just won't happen. So we have a much better understanding of how this can be more common in therey compared to the ocean joint filming system, the first question one, so throughout this visit on ONLY This is to make sure that everybody
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understands how the white tip is doing
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all across the Pacific.
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So partners with various governments that
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may or may not have the resources to
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dedicate to finding such information.
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That helps in understanding the
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population of ocean white tips as well as
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the ecosystem health within those areas
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because they start to look at everything
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and it goes into more modeling,
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it goes into more shark population
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studies other than the ocean white tip.
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So having that ocean and coastal
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monitoring is very important.
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Fisheries and marine biodiversity, I just
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kind of touched upon that with the ocean white tip.
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NOAA conducts joint research on
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sustainable fisheries management,
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addressing overfishing and illegal,
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unreported and unregulated IUU fishing
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studies also focus on migratory fish
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stocks, marine biodiversity, coral reef
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health, particularly
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in shared ecosystems.
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They also take care of weather
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forecasting and severe weather research.
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All hurricane watches, all the tsunami
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watches, all those alert systems.
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All those alert systems, NOAA takes care
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of that, collaborates with international
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meteorological organizations to improve
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forecasting models for hurricanes,
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typhoons and other
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extreme weather events.
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Studies include atmospheric dynamics,
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storm patterns and global
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weather prediction models.
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The fifth one that they look at is the
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polar and Arctic studies, research on
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melting ice caps, changes in polar
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ecosystems and their implications of
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Arctic warming on the global climate.
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NOAA works closely with Arctic nations
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through the Arctic Council.
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The sixth is marine
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population and debris.
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They conduct studies on the sources and
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impacts of marine pollution, including
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microplastics and oil spills,
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collaborates with international partners
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on solutions to mitigate pollution, such
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as cleanup marine debris and monitoring
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ocean acidification.
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And then we talk about ocean
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acidification, which
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is the seventh program.
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Studies the impact of increased CO2
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levels on the marine ecosystem globally,
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including coral bleaching, shellfish
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survival and broader ecosystem impacts.
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Disaster preparedness and
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mitigation is the eighth program.
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They participate in studies on tsunami
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generation, propagation and impacts to
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improve warning systems and disaster
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response in coastal areas worldwide.
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Partnerships with countries in the
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Pacific and Indian oceans and strengthen
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early warning systems.
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Remember the tsunami of 2004? All those
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alert systems, even though they did a lot
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of damage, all those alert systems saves
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thousands and thousands of lives.
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And it's really important. All this
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elimination makes no sense.
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The Marine Mammal Endangered Species
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Conservation is the ninth program,
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conducts international research on the
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migration patterns and population
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dynamics of marine mammals like whales,
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sea turtles and other endangered species.
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Works to reduce bycatch and protect
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critical habitats across international
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waters. And last one,
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international capacity building.
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01:08:09,916 --> 01:08:11,916
So NOAA supports capacity building
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initiatives in developing nations by
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01:08:13,750 --> 01:08:15,666
sharing technology, training and
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01:08:15,666 --> 01:08:17,708
expertise in oceanographic and
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01:08:17,708 --> 01:08:18,791
atmospheric sciences.
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01:08:19,250 --> 01:08:20,750
Provides support for regional
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01:08:20,750 --> 01:08:22,333
organizations like the Caribbean
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01:08:22,333 --> 01:08:23,875
Community Climate Change Center, the
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01:08:23,875 --> 01:08:27,000
CCCCC, and others in
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01:08:27,000 --> 01:08:27,625
the Pacific and Africa.
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01:08:28,625 --> 01:08:30,583
So some of their key partnerships, United
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01:08:30,583 --> 01:08:32,166
Nations Framework Convention on Climate
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01:08:32,166 --> 01:08:33,666
Change, World Meteorological
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01:08:33,666 --> 01:08:36,125
Organization, International Oceanographic
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01:08:36,125 --> 01:08:37,791
Commission, the IOC, International
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01:08:37,791 --> 01:08:39,625
Whaling Commission, the IWC, and the
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01:08:39,625 --> 01:08:40,125
Global Earth
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01:08:40,125 --> 01:08:42,708
Observations of Systems, the GEOES.
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01:08:43,875 --> 01:08:46,666
That's a lot. That's a lot of
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01:08:46,666 --> 01:08:48,416
international work that is essentially
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01:08:48,416 --> 01:08:50,041
has been halted for the time being.
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01:08:50,041 --> 01:08:51,541
I can't say if they are going to
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01:08:51,541 --> 01:08:53,833
eliminate this on a permanent basis. It
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01:08:53,833 --> 01:08:55,541
doesn't look like they want to help out
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01:08:55,541 --> 01:08:56,625
things internationally.
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01:08:56,625 --> 01:08:59,416
Let's talk for real here. This is going
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01:08:59,416 --> 01:09:01,166
to affect a lot of things. I just talked
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01:09:01,166 --> 01:09:02,375
a little bit about just to summarize
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01:09:02,375 --> 01:09:03,500
going to fisheries monitoring,
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01:09:03,666 --> 01:09:05,291
sustainability, economics of fisheries.
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01:09:05,708 --> 01:09:07,583
It's going to affect weather forecasting
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01:09:07,583 --> 01:09:10,000
and warning of natural disasters. It's
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01:09:10,000 --> 01:09:10,791
going to affect the Marine Mammal
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01:09:10,791 --> 01:09:12,250
Protection Act, which we'll get into in
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01:09:12,250 --> 01:09:13,833
just a second. It's going to affect the
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01:09:13,833 --> 01:09:16,125
Marine Sanctuaries Act. No new marine
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01:09:16,125 --> 01:09:17,625
sanctuaries will be designated.
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01:09:17,666 --> 01:09:19,958
It's also going to affect ocean
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01:09:19,958 --> 01:09:22,333
protection in general. Now it's also
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01:09:22,333 --> 01:09:24,500
going to affect the EPA. So we're looking
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01:09:24,500 --> 01:09:27,333
at the EPA. They had their area stormed.
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01:09:27,583 --> 01:09:28,416
It's going to affect the Clean
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01:09:28,416 --> 01:09:30,166
Water Act, the Clean Air Act.
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01:09:30,541 --> 01:09:32,666
We know that Trump went after this act
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01:09:32,666 --> 01:09:35,791
before. He's taken away funding for the
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01:09:35,791 --> 01:09:37,750
Inflation Act that was put in by Biden,
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01:09:37,750 --> 01:09:39,000
which we don't even know if this is
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01:09:39,000 --> 01:09:40,541
legal. We don't even know if the court
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01:09:40,541 --> 01:09:41,625
systems will uphold this or not.
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There's going to have to be lawsuits.
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It's going to have to be settled in
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01:09:44,750 --> 01:09:47,500
court. I have seen other things that the
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01:09:47,500 --> 01:09:49,583
Trump administration has tried already. I
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01:09:49,583 --> 01:09:51,750
know for like the DACA, I guess they call
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01:09:51,750 --> 01:09:53,083
them dreamers, the people who are born
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01:09:53,083 --> 01:09:54,500
here where their parents were not
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01:09:54,500 --> 01:09:56,958
citizens. They tried to say that the
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01:09:56,958 --> 01:09:58,083
people who were born here were not
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01:09:58,083 --> 01:10:00,500
citizens and that didn't get upheld in
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01:10:00,500 --> 01:10:02,375
court. It got shot down. Obviously
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01:10:02,375 --> 01:10:04,291
there's a lot of different things that
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01:10:04,291 --> 01:10:05,875
are going on, which makes it really,
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01:10:05,875 --> 01:10:07,500
really dangerous when we start talking
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01:10:07,500 --> 01:10:08,916
about these things in human rights. But
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01:10:08,916 --> 01:10:09,958
we're talking about the environment
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01:10:09,958 --> 01:10:10,625
today. We're going to focus on that.
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01:10:10,625 --> 01:10:13,666
So hopefully the courts will uphold all
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01:10:13,666 --> 01:10:15,791
of these mandates as they are in law.
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01:10:16,208 --> 01:10:18,208
There's a reason why there's laws. You
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01:10:18,208 --> 01:10:20,625
can't just go in and just cut at will and
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01:10:20,625 --> 01:10:22,708
just say, hey, we've cut everything. We
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01:10:22,708 --> 01:10:24,416
just did it what we thought was the best
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01:10:24,416 --> 01:10:26,041
way to cut. And that's the way we did it
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01:10:26,041 --> 01:10:28,375
without going through the rule of law,
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01:10:28,375 --> 01:10:30,666
without going through ways to ensure that
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01:10:30,666 --> 01:10:32,583
the stuff that was put in law before just
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01:10:32,583 --> 01:10:34,875
can't be taken away with one swell swoop
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01:10:34,875 --> 01:10:37,666
of a pen stroke or even just coming into
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01:10:37,666 --> 01:10:39,625
an office and intimidating people. Right? That's a real problem.
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01:10:39,666 --> 01:10:41,916
I've heard a number of different people
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01:10:41,916 --> 01:10:43,458
talk about how this is a focus on
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01:10:43,458 --> 01:10:45,000
fisheries and yes, this is a focus on
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01:10:45,000 --> 01:10:46,875
fisheries. Fisheries will be affected and
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01:10:46,875 --> 01:10:48,541
impacted by Noah. But the other thing
347
01:10:48,541 --> 01:10:51,791
that will be impacted is going to be oil
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01:10:51,791 --> 01:10:54,000
and gas development. There are a lot of
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01:10:54,000 --> 01:10:55,791
regulations within the exclusive economic
350
01:10:55,791 --> 01:10:58,791
zone with oil and a big part of that is
351
01:10:58,791 --> 01:10:59,625
the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
352
01:10:59,625 --> 01:11:03,916
You cannot harass or alter the direction
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01:11:03,916 --> 01:11:06,583
of the migration route or just harm
354
01:11:06,583 --> 01:11:09,291
marine mammals that includes orcas that
355
01:11:09,291 --> 01:11:11,666
includes humpback whales, baleen whales,
356
01:11:11,666 --> 01:11:14,500
toothed whales, seals, sea lions and so
357
01:11:14,500 --> 01:11:16,916
forth and polar bears with oil and gas.
358
01:11:16,916 --> 01:11:18,250
So that means there's a lot of
359
01:11:18,250 --> 01:11:19,625
exploration that needs to happen.
360
01:11:19,666 --> 01:11:22,500
They have certain rules in and around
361
01:11:22,500 --> 01:11:25,333
those projects where they cannot harm or
362
01:11:25,333 --> 01:11:28,166
harass or change the route of a marine
363
01:11:28,166 --> 01:11:30,250
mammal. I've been on those before in
364
01:11:30,250 --> 01:11:32,375
Canada. It's actually even more strict in
365
01:11:32,375 --> 01:11:34,375
the US where you can't even mess around
366
01:11:34,375 --> 01:11:35,791
with sea lions or seals.
367
01:11:36,208 --> 01:11:37,500
That means the instrumentation that they
368
01:11:37,500 --> 01:11:38,833
use the big guns I've talked about on
369
01:11:38,833 --> 01:11:40,833
this podcast before they shoot sound down
370
01:11:40,833 --> 01:11:42,500
into the water, hit the bottom and
371
01:11:42,500 --> 01:11:43,875
reverberate back to see a picture
372
01:11:43,875 --> 01:11:44,625
underneath the water.
373
01:11:44,625 --> 01:11:46,625
Once they find those hydrocarbon
374
01:11:46,625 --> 01:11:48,291
deposits, that's a place where they're
375
01:11:48,291 --> 01:11:50,166
like, oh, maybe we can make a drill area
376
01:11:50,166 --> 01:11:52,291
here. You have to be careful in what you
377
01:11:52,291 --> 01:11:54,208
do. Like I said, you can't have any
378
01:11:54,208 --> 01:11:56,166
marine mammals within those areas.
379
01:11:56,500 --> 01:11:57,625
If they are, you have to shut off the
380
01:11:57,625 --> 01:11:59,166
guns. You have to wait until they leave.
381
01:11:59,458 --> 01:12:01,125
That would seriously hinder the
382
01:12:01,125 --> 01:12:02,625
development of oil and gas. And it has
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01:12:02,625 --> 01:12:05,291
done in the past. Also, the drilling that
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01:12:05,291 --> 01:12:07,500
is actually going on in the Arctic or
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01:12:07,500 --> 01:12:08,750
anywhere in the exclusive
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01:12:08,750 --> 01:12:09,625
economic zone of the US.
387
01:12:09,625 --> 01:12:12,916
You have to be careful of marine mammals
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01:12:12,916 --> 01:12:14,416
and you have to make sure that they don't
389
01:12:14,416 --> 01:12:17,208
alter the migration path of these mammals
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01:12:17,208 --> 01:12:19,166
or even seals like mammals, including
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01:12:19,166 --> 01:12:21,375
polar bears, whales, seals and sea lions.
392
01:12:21,916 --> 01:12:23,958
There's a lot of regulation and the oil
393
01:12:23,958 --> 01:12:25,875
and gas industry hate it. And in fact,
394
01:12:25,875 --> 01:12:27,208
it's actually stopped them from doing
395
01:12:27,208 --> 01:12:29,458
certain things at certain times. Taking
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01:12:29,458 --> 01:12:30,958
away or stripping the marine mammal
397
01:12:30,958 --> 01:12:32,958
protection act of its regulations will
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01:12:32,958 --> 01:12:34,875
allow this oil and gas exploration to
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01:12:34,875 --> 01:12:37,125
happen on a more regular basis without
400
01:12:37,125 --> 01:12:37,625
those types of regulations.
401
01:12:37,625 --> 01:12:39,666
It's really interesting because the Trump
402
01:12:39,666 --> 01:12:42,166
administration heavily criticized the
403
01:12:42,166 --> 01:12:44,458
offshore wind industry for causing noise
404
01:12:44,458 --> 01:12:46,833
for marine mammals and stop the offshore
405
01:12:46,833 --> 01:12:49,166
wind industry from developing further
406
01:12:49,166 --> 01:12:52,000
projects while they're allowing for
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01:12:52,000 --> 01:12:54,416
approval harmful projects that emit noise
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01:12:54,416 --> 01:12:57,250
on a regular basis within the ocean to
409
01:12:57,250 --> 01:12:57,625
affect marine mammals.
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01:12:57,666 --> 01:13:02,250
The hypocrisy is just flowing like crazy.
411
01:13:02,750 --> 01:13:04,458
It's insane. But that's exactly what
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01:13:04,458 --> 01:13:06,958
they're going for. No marine sanctuaries.
413
01:13:06,958 --> 01:13:08,666
That means you can explore oil and gas
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01:13:08,666 --> 01:13:10,750
within any of the new proposed marine
415
01:13:10,750 --> 01:13:13,250
sanctuaries. It looks like the
416
01:13:13,250 --> 01:13:16,416
sanctuaries that are in now are free and
417
01:13:16,416 --> 01:13:19,083
safe from these types of disturbances and
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01:13:19,083 --> 01:13:22,041
extraction for now. Who knows what they
419
01:13:22,041 --> 01:13:24,916
decide to do later on. So a lot of this
420
01:13:24,916 --> 01:13:26,625
is a big problem, right? A lot of this is a big problem.
421
01:13:26,625 --> 01:13:28,708
A lot of this is something that just
422
01:13:28,708 --> 01:13:31,458
screws with everything. And I wanted to
423
01:13:31,458 --> 01:13:33,875
touch upon something quickly. There have
424
01:13:33,875 --> 01:13:36,500
been times where we've seen this before.
425
01:13:36,708 --> 01:13:39,250
We've seen a cut in staff. Not to this
426
01:13:39,250 --> 01:13:41,500
amount, but we have seen it with the last
427
01:13:41,500 --> 01:13:43,083
Trump administration where they cut some
428
01:13:43,083 --> 01:13:45,666
programs or defund some programs, but not
429
01:13:45,666 --> 01:13:48,041
to this level. Again, not to this level,
430
01:13:48,041 --> 01:13:49,541
but happened in Canada under the Harper
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01:13:49,541 --> 01:13:51,708
administration for Prime Minister Harper,
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01:13:51,708 --> 01:13:54,250
where they went through and they decided
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01:13:54,250 --> 01:13:55,625
to redesign and restructure the oil and gas industry.
434
01:13:55,625 --> 01:13:56,250
And they decided to redesign and
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01:13:56,250 --> 01:13:58,500
restructure the programs because they
436
01:13:58,500 --> 01:14:00,291
want to change something within the
437
01:14:00,291 --> 01:14:02,125
fisheries act, which is fish habitat that
438
01:14:02,125 --> 01:14:04,041
we had to protect fish habitat. They just
439
01:14:04,041 --> 01:14:06,041
said rolling in to protect fisheries that
440
01:14:06,041 --> 01:14:07,541
have been established for more than 30
441
01:14:07,541 --> 01:14:09,791
years. And it could be for commercial
442
01:14:09,791 --> 01:14:11,916
recreational or aboriginal fisheries. So
443
01:14:11,916 --> 01:14:14,291
indigenous fisheries and they effectively
444
01:14:14,291 --> 01:14:16,000
changed the law with that change the law.
445
01:14:16,000 --> 01:14:17,916
They restructured the entire science
446
01:14:17,916 --> 01:14:20,125
sector and government sector within the
447
01:14:20,125 --> 01:14:21,958
environment Canada at the time and
448
01:14:21,958 --> 01:14:22,625
Department of Fisheries
449
01:14:22,625 --> 01:14:23,791
and Oceans at the time.
450
01:14:24,666 --> 01:14:26,083
I was there at the Department of
451
01:14:26,083 --> 01:14:27,541
Fisheries at the time working out of
452
01:14:27,541 --> 01:14:29,583
Burlington where I live now and I
453
01:14:29,583 --> 01:14:32,333
witnessed the change and it was horrible.
454
01:14:32,875 --> 01:14:35,541
They would bring people in like 2550 at a
455
01:14:35,541 --> 01:14:37,208
time. They would bring people in to an
456
01:14:37,208 --> 01:14:39,375
office and said your position has now
457
01:14:39,375 --> 01:14:41,416
been affected. In other words, we're not
458
01:14:41,416 --> 01:14:42,916
funding this position anymore because
459
01:14:42,916 --> 01:14:44,375
they were unionized. They were able to
460
01:14:44,375 --> 01:14:46,583
find other positions within the
461
01:14:46,583 --> 01:14:47,916
government, whether it's under the new
462
01:14:47,916 --> 01:14:50,625
department or the new sectors or if it's
463
01:14:50,625 --> 01:14:52,166
something older or somewhere else, but
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01:14:52,166 --> 01:14:53,333
they would potentially have
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01:14:53,333 --> 01:14:53,625
to move across the country.
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01:14:53,625 --> 01:14:56,958
To be able to be a part of those sectors
467
01:14:56,958 --> 01:14:59,041
made it very difficult. Employee morale
468
01:14:59,041 --> 01:15:01,291
was very, very low and it wasn't until
469
01:15:01,291 --> 01:15:03,208
the Trudeau government came in had
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01:15:03,208 --> 01:15:04,916
mandates where they actually read out the
471
01:15:04,916 --> 01:15:06,500
mandate for each of the departments and
472
01:15:06,500 --> 01:15:08,041
say, Hey, you know what? You are know
473
01:15:08,041 --> 01:15:10,958
exactly what you're doing. It sucked and
474
01:15:10,958 --> 01:15:12,000
it's going to suck for a lot of the
475
01:15:12,000 --> 01:15:13,666
people. Now, if you know somebody who's
476
01:15:13,666 --> 01:15:14,833
in the government, reach out to them.
477
01:15:14,833 --> 01:15:16,291
Sam, sorry you're going through this. I
478
01:15:16,291 --> 01:15:18,541
hope that it gets better over the next
479
01:15:18,541 --> 01:15:20,500
four years, but who knows what will
480
01:15:20,500 --> 01:15:21,625
happen. Well, the courts will hold it up or not. I'm not going to.
481
01:15:21,625 --> 01:15:25,958
But that's it for my time on today's
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01:15:25,958 --> 01:15:28,166
episode. Obviously not good news that we
483
01:15:28,166 --> 01:15:30,041
see and hopefully it will get better.
484
01:15:30,041 --> 01:15:31,291
Hopefully, like I said, the courts will
485
01:15:31,291 --> 01:15:33,916
uphold the laws of the land and the laws
486
01:15:33,916 --> 01:15:36,000
of the sea and hopefully the funding will
487
01:15:36,000 --> 01:15:37,750
get back and people can get back to their
488
01:15:37,750 --> 01:15:39,458
jobs. But we're going to have to see. I'd
489
01:15:39,458 --> 01:15:40,791
love to hear your questions and comments
490
01:15:40,791 --> 01:15:43,166
on this episode to hit me up on Instagram
491
01:15:43,166 --> 01:15:43,625
at how to protect the ocean. Of course, don't forget to subscribe and hit that notification
bell to hear all of the stuff that's coming out, not only the US, but worldwide of ocean.
492
01:15:51,666 --> 01:15:55,708
Thank you so much for joining me on
493
01:15:55,708 --> 01:15:57,333
today's episode of the how to protect the
494
01:15:57,333 --> 01:15:58,833
ocean. I'm your host, Andrew from the
495
01:15:58,833 --> 01:16:00,458
true North strong and free. Have a good
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01:16:00,458 --> 01:16:01,583
day. I'll talk to you next
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01:16:01,583 --> 01:16:02,625
time. Happy conservation.
01:00:00,000 --> 01:00:02,416
There is a war on science right now in
2
01:00:02,416 --> 01:00:03,875
the US government that are
3
01:00:03,875 --> 01:00:05,958
targeting NOAA, the National
4
01:00:05,958 --> 01:00:07,250
Oceanographic and Atmospheric
5
01:00:07,250 --> 01:00:09,458
Administration and the EPA, the
6
01:00:09,458 --> 01:00:10,708
Environmental Protection Agency,
7
01:00:11,333 --> 01:00:12,750
by the Department of Government
8
01:00:12,750 --> 01:00:15,750
Efficiency, Doge, headed by Elon Musk.
9
01:00:15,750 --> 01:00:16,666
He's not even an elected
10
01:00:16,666 --> 01:00:18,875
official. Congresspeople and senators are
11
01:00:18,875 --> 01:00:20,125
not happy with the way
12
01:00:20,125 --> 01:00:21,666
things are going. And on this
13
01:00:21,666 --> 01:00:23,000
episode of the How to Protect the Ocean
14
01:00:23,000 --> 01:00:24,333
podcast, we're going to talk about the
15
01:00:24,333 --> 01:00:25,166
cuts that we've seen
16
01:00:25,208 --> 01:00:27,000
this in the past, not only at the other
17
01:00:27,000 --> 01:00:28,208
Trump administration, but
18
01:00:28,208 --> 01:00:30,291
also in Canada back in the
19
01:00:30,291 --> 01:00:32,083
early 2010s. We're going to talk about
20
01:00:32,083 --> 01:00:33,208
that on today's episode of
21
01:00:33,208 --> 01:00:33,958
the How to Protect the Ocean
22
01:00:33,958 --> 01:00:38,041
podcast. Let's start the show. Hey,
23
01:00:38,041 --> 01:00:39,000
everybody, welcome back to another
24
01:00:39,000 --> 01:00:40,000
exciting episode of the
25
01:00:40,000 --> 01:00:41,166
How to Protect the Ocean podcast. I'm
26
01:00:41,166 --> 01:00:42,250
your host, Andrew Loew. And
27
01:00:42,250 --> 01:00:43,000
this is the podcast where you
28
01:00:43,000 --> 01:00:44,416
find out what's happening with the ocean,
29
01:00:44,416 --> 01:00:45,500
how you can speak up for
30
01:00:45,500 --> 01:00:46,458
the ocean and what you need to
31
01:00:46,500 --> 01:00:48,958
live for a better ocean by taking action.
32
01:00:48,958 --> 01:00:50,083
And I'll tell you, all three
33
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things need to happen right
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now. We are seeing a lot of just
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01:00:54,333 --> 01:00:57,541
dismantling of infrastructure and funding
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01:00:57,541 --> 01:00:58,791
that has been put into
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01:00:58,791 --> 01:01:01,708
place for decades for a lot of ocean
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protection. And that's why
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we're talking about this today.
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The Trump administration has allowed Elon
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01:01:07,500 --> 01:01:10,041
Musk and his Department of
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Government Efficiency, Doge,
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to go into various departments and go in
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and just essentially dismantle
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01:01:16,750 --> 01:01:18,000
everything. It's a really
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01:01:18,625 --> 01:01:21,500
interesting yet scary situation for a lot
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01:01:21,500 --> 01:01:23,208
of the people. There have been
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01:01:23,208 --> 01:01:24,541
accusations and these are
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01:01:24,541 --> 01:01:26,333
only accusations at this point. I haven't
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01:01:26,333 --> 01:01:28,375
seen any evidence of intimidation like
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01:01:28,375 --> 01:01:29,875
this being accused of
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by Doge officials to essentially bully
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people into giving up
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whatever they have. There's been
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01:01:36,083 --> 01:01:38,833
accusations of eliminating documents.
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There's been accusations of freezing
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01:01:41,458 --> 01:01:43,083
funding. And there have
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been a lot of accusations of just these
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employees that are actually
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showing up on the department,
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like the EPA's staff list, and just kind
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of integrating
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themselves into the Environmental
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Protection Agency. Whether they qualify
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to be in the Environmental Protection
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Agency or NOAA or any of
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the other departments, we're not sure. We
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don't know who the people
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are. There have been a number
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of videos that have come out showing
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government officials trying
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to get into the EPA, trying to
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get into the Department of Education, and
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they're not allowed.
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They've been denied by security.
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They've been told, "Hey, we're going to
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get somebody. We'll figure this out, but
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you have to stay here.
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You have to stay outside and you have to
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wait." Obviously not ideal
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when members of Congress,
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members of the Senate cannot get access
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to find out what's happening
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with all of these departments.
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01:02:26,916 --> 01:02:28,541
What cuts are happening? Where's the
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01:02:28,541 --> 01:02:29,708
money going? Is it even
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legal to do some of these cuts?
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That's what's really happening here. And
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that's the scary part of
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this situation. So I'm going to
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run through some of the things that I've
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been able to gather and
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01:02:40,291 --> 01:02:42,291
figure out what's been happening.
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So there's been a takeover at NOAA's
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headquarters in Virginia,
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highlighting a number of different
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concerns with potential impacts on
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weather forecasting,
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cybersecurity, and employee morale.
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It also touches upon the removal of
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diversity and inclusion materials and the
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broader implications
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of public access to crucial safety
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information during disasters.
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So there's been a lot of just
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things that have been happening that's
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kind of crazy. So with NOAA,
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some of the things that they
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look after, they look after the weather
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system, like weather forecasting, they
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look after sustainability
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and economics fisheries monitoring, they
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look after the Marine
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Mountain Protection Act falls
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under there, the Marine Sanctuaries Act
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also falls under there,
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ocean protection in general falls
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there. Not only within the exclusive
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economic zone of the US, including
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Alaska, including Hawaii,
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including the Gulf of Mexico, the
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Atlantic, and the Pacific, but also
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abroad. There's a lot of
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international work that's been done that
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have as of now has been halted. And I
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want to go through
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with some of the things
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that's going to happen. And I'll do that
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in just a sec. Before I want
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to just talk about the overall
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things, I talked about employee morale
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bring down the government wants to slash
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50% of NOAA employee
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staff. Doge, headed by Leland Musk, wants
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to slash 50% of the workforce for NOAA.
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So that's the 13,000
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people work there approximately, they
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01:03:58,500 --> 01:03:59,833
want to bring it down to approximately
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01:03:59,833 --> 01:04:01,791
6,500. That eliminates
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one, a lot of jobs, but also
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eliminates a lot of the work that's been
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done by all those people. NOAA is a
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leader in research, in
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monitoring, in conservation.
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They set a lot of the times the standard
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because they have so much funding,
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because they have access to so many
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different types of oceanographic
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instrumentation. They work with other
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governments in international waters to
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understand not only their
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waters and what's happening
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in their waters, but also just understand
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weather patterns and climate change
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around the world. All of this is going to
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be eliminated. We're going to talk a
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little bit about what's happening in a
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01:04:33,875 --> 01:04:35,583
bit. But yeah, essentially all these
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international government programs have
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been stopped. And I'm going to talk a
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little bit about that right now. So
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climate change and climate modeling. So
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NOAA collaborates, like I said, with
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international partners to do modeling and
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monitoring climate change systems. The
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studies include impacts of greenhouse
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gases, ocean heat uptake, sea level rise,
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and climate variability.
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So NOAA is a major role in monitoring the
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health of international waters through programs like the Argo Float System, which collect ocean temperature, salinity, and current data. Also collaborates in global initiatives such as the Global Ocean Observing System, GOOS, to track ocean health currents and the global climate change.
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They also take care of like monitoring
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shark populations. So we just did an
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interview over on the beyond jaws podcast
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talking about the updates to the sort of
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the overall stock assessment of the Ocean
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White Test. This is to make sure that everybody
understands how the metric of ocean
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congrats could go. And so we historically just said this disconnect between the over target you mentioned down top, ocean perception, the andTrack defeated report that just won't happen. So we have a much better understanding of how this can be more common in therey compared to the ocean joint filming system, the first question one, so throughout this visit on ONLY This is to make sure that everybody
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understands how the white tip is doing
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all across the Pacific.
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So partners with various governments that
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may or may not have the resources to
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dedicate to finding such information.
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That helps in understanding the
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population of ocean white tips as well as
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the ecosystem health within those areas
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because they start to look at everything
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and it goes into more modeling,
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it goes into more shark population
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studies other than the ocean white tip.
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So having that ocean and coastal
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monitoring is very important.
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Fisheries and marine biodiversity, I just
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kind of touched upon that with the ocean white tip.
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NOAA conducts joint research on
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sustainable fisheries management,
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addressing overfishing and illegal,
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unreported and unregulated IUU fishing
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studies also focus on migratory fish
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stocks, marine biodiversity, coral reef
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health, particularly
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in shared ecosystems.
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They also take care of weather
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forecasting and severe weather research.
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All hurricane watches, all the tsunami
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watches, all those alert systems.
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All those alert systems, NOAA takes care
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of that, collaborates with international
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meteorological organizations to improve
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forecasting models for hurricanes,
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typhoons and other
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extreme weather events.
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Studies include atmospheric dynamics,
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storm patterns and global
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weather prediction models.
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The fifth one that they look at is the
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polar and Arctic studies, research on
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melting ice caps, changes in polar
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ecosystems and their implications of
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Arctic warming on the global climate.
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NOAA works closely with Arctic nations
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through the Arctic Council.
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The sixth is marine
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population and debris.
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They conduct studies on the sources and
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impacts of marine pollution, including
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microplastics and oil spills,
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collaborates with international partners
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on solutions to mitigate pollution, such
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as cleanup marine debris and monitoring
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ocean acidification.
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And then we talk about ocean
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acidification, which
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is the seventh program.
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Studies the impact of increased CO2
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levels on the marine ecosystem globally,
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including coral bleaching, shellfish
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survival and broader ecosystem impacts.
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Disaster preparedness and
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mitigation is the eighth program.
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They participate in studies on tsunami
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generation, propagation and impacts to
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improve warning systems and disaster
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response in coastal areas worldwide.
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Partnerships with countries in the
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Pacific and Indian oceans and strengthen
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early warning systems.
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Remember the tsunami of 2004? All those
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alert systems, even though they did a lot
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of damage, all those alert systems saves
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01:07:47,083 --> 01:07:48,666
thousands and thousands of lives.
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And it's really important. All this
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elimination makes no sense.
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The Marine Mammal Endangered Species
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Conservation is the ninth program,
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conducts international research on the
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migration patterns and population
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dynamics of marine mammals like whales,
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sea turtles and other endangered species.
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Works to reduce bycatch and protect
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critical habitats across international
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waters. And last one,
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international capacity building.
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So NOAA supports capacity building
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initiatives in developing nations by
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sharing technology, training and
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expertise in oceanographic and
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atmospheric sciences.
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Provides support for regional
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organizations like the Caribbean
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Community Climate Change Center, the
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CCCCC, and others in
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the Pacific and Africa.
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So some of their key partnerships, United
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Nations Framework Convention on Climate
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Change, World Meteorological
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Organization, International Oceanographic
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Commission, the IOC, International
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01:08:37,791 --> 01:08:39,625
Whaling Commission, the IWC, and the
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Global Earth
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Observations of Systems, the GEOES.
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That's a lot. That's a lot of
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international work that is essentially
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has been halted for the time being.
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I can't say if they are going to
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eliminate this on a permanent basis. It
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01:08:53,833 --> 01:08:55,541
doesn't look like they want to help out
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01:08:55,541 --> 01:08:56,625
things internationally.
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Let's talk for real here. This is going
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to affect a lot of things. I just talked
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a little bit about just to summarize
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01:09:02,375 --> 01:09:03,500
going to fisheries monitoring,
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01:09:03,666 --> 01:09:05,291
sustainability, economics of fisheries.
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It's going to affect weather forecasting
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and warning of natural disasters. It's
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going to affect the Marine Mammal
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Protection Act, which we'll get into in
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just a second. It's going to affect the
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Marine Sanctuaries Act. No new marine
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sanctuaries will be designated.
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It's also going to affect ocean
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protection in general. Now it's also
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going to affect the EPA. So we're looking
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at the EPA. They had their area stormed.
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It's going to affect the Clean
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Water Act, the Clean Air Act.
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We know that Trump went after this act
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before. He's taken away funding for the
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01:09:35,791 --> 01:09:37,750
Inflation Act that was put in by Biden,
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01:09:37,750 --> 01:09:39,000
which we don't even know if this is
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01:09:39,000 --> 01:09:40,541
legal. We don't even know if the court
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01:09:40,541 --> 01:09:41,625
systems will uphold this or not.
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01:09:42,625 --> 01:09:43,875
There's going to have to be lawsuits.
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01:09:43,875 --> 01:09:44,750
It's going to have to be settled in
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01:09:44,750 --> 01:09:47,500
court. I have seen other things that the
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01:09:47,500 --> 01:09:49,583
Trump administration has tried already. I
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01:09:49,583 --> 01:09:51,750
know for like the DACA, I guess they call
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01:09:51,750 --> 01:09:53,083
them dreamers, the people who are born
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01:09:53,083 --> 01:09:54,500
here where their parents were not
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01:09:54,500 --> 01:09:56,958
citizens. They tried to say that the
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01:09:56,958 --> 01:09:58,083
people who were born here were not
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01:09:58,083 --> 01:10:00,500
citizens and that didn't get upheld in
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01:10:00,500 --> 01:10:02,375
court. It got shot down. Obviously
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01:10:02,375 --> 01:10:04,291
there's a lot of different things that
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01:10:04,291 --> 01:10:05,875
are going on, which makes it really,
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01:10:05,875 --> 01:10:07,500
really dangerous when we start talking
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01:10:07,500 --> 01:10:08,916
about these things in human rights. But
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01:10:08,916 --> 01:10:09,958
we're talking about the environment
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01:10:09,958 --> 01:10:10,625
today. We're going to focus on that.
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01:10:10,625 --> 01:10:13,666
So hopefully the courts will uphold all
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01:10:13,666 --> 01:10:15,791
of these mandates as they are in law.
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01:10:16,208 --> 01:10:18,208
There's a reason why there's laws. You
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01:10:18,208 --> 01:10:20,625
can't just go in and just cut at will and
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01:10:20,625 --> 01:10:22,708
just say, hey, we've cut everything. We
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01:10:22,708 --> 01:10:24,416
just did it what we thought was the best
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01:10:24,416 --> 01:10:26,041
way to cut. And that's the way we did it
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01:10:26,041 --> 01:10:28,375
without going through the rule of law,
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01:10:28,375 --> 01:10:30,666
without going through ways to ensure that
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01:10:30,666 --> 01:10:32,583
the stuff that was put in law before just
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01:10:32,583 --> 01:10:34,875
can't be taken away with one swell swoop
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01:10:34,875 --> 01:10:37,666
of a pen stroke or even just coming into
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01:10:37,666 --> 01:10:39,625
an office and intimidating people. Right? That's a real problem.
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01:10:39,666 --> 01:10:41,916
I've heard a number of different people
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01:10:41,916 --> 01:10:43,458
talk about how this is a focus on
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01:10:43,458 --> 01:10:45,000
fisheries and yes, this is a focus on
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01:10:45,000 --> 01:10:46,875
fisheries. Fisheries will be affected and
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01:10:46,875 --> 01:10:48,541
impacted by Noah. But the other thing
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01:10:48,541 --> 01:10:51,791
that will be impacted is going to be oil
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01:10:51,791 --> 01:10:54,000
and gas development. There are a lot of
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01:10:54,000 --> 01:10:55,791
regulations within the exclusive economic
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01:10:55,791 --> 01:10:58,791
zone with oil and a big part of that is
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01:10:58,791 --> 01:10:59,625
the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
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01:10:59,625 --> 01:11:03,916
You cannot harass or alter the direction
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01:11:03,916 --> 01:11:06,583
of the migration route or just harm
354
01:11:06,583 --> 01:11:09,291
marine mammals that includes orcas that
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01:11:09,291 --> 01:11:11,666
includes humpback whales, baleen whales,
356
01:11:11,666 --> 01:11:14,500
toothed whales, seals, sea lions and so
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01:11:14,500 --> 01:11:16,916
forth and polar bears with oil and gas.
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01:11:16,916 --> 01:11:18,250
So that means there's a lot of
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01:11:18,250 --> 01:11:19,625
exploration that needs to happen.
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01:11:19,666 --> 01:11:22,500
They have certain rules in and around
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01:11:22,500 --> 01:11:25,333
those projects where they cannot harm or
362
01:11:25,333 --> 01:11:28,166
harass or change the route of a marine
363
01:11:28,166 --> 01:11:30,250
mammal. I've been on those before in
364
01:11:30,250 --> 01:11:32,375
Canada. It's actually even more strict in
365
01:11:32,375 --> 01:11:34,375
the US where you can't even mess around
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01:11:34,375 --> 01:11:35,791
with sea lions or seals.
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01:11:36,208 --> 01:11:37,500
That means the instrumentation that they
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01:11:37,500 --> 01:11:38,833
use the big guns I've talked about on
369
01:11:38,833 --> 01:11:40,833
this podcast before they shoot sound down
370
01:11:40,833 --> 01:11:42,500
into the water, hit the bottom and
371
01:11:42,500 --> 01:11:43,875
reverberate back to see a picture
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01:11:43,875 --> 01:11:44,625
underneath the water.
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01:11:44,625 --> 01:11:46,625
Once they find those hydrocarbon
374
01:11:46,625 --> 01:11:48,291
deposits, that's a place where they're
375
01:11:48,291 --> 01:11:50,166
like, oh, maybe we can make a drill area
376
01:11:50,166 --> 01:11:52,291
here. You have to be careful in what you
377
01:11:52,291 --> 01:11:54,208
do. Like I said, you can't have any
378
01:11:54,208 --> 01:11:56,166
marine mammals within those areas.
379
01:11:56,500 --> 01:11:57,625
If they are, you have to shut off the
380
01:11:57,625 --> 01:11:59,166
guns. You have to wait until they leave.
381
01:11:59,458 --> 01:12:01,125
That would seriously hinder the
382
01:12:01,125 --> 01:12:02,625
development of oil and gas. And it has
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01:12:02,625 --> 01:12:05,291
done in the past. Also, the drilling that
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01:12:05,291 --> 01:12:07,500
is actually going on in the Arctic or
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01:12:07,500 --> 01:12:08,750
anywhere in the exclusive
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01:12:08,750 --> 01:12:09,625
economic zone of the US.
387
01:12:09,625 --> 01:12:12,916
You have to be careful of marine mammals
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01:12:12,916 --> 01:12:14,416
and you have to make sure that they don't
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01:12:14,416 --> 01:12:17,208
alter the migration path of these mammals
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01:12:17,208 --> 01:12:19,166
or even seals like mammals, including
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01:12:19,166 --> 01:12:21,375
polar bears, whales, seals and sea lions.
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01:12:21,916 --> 01:12:23,958
There's a lot of regulation and the oil
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01:12:23,958 --> 01:12:25,875
and gas industry hate it. And in fact,
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01:12:25,875 --> 01:12:27,208
it's actually stopped them from doing
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01:12:27,208 --> 01:12:29,458
certain things at certain times. Taking
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01:12:29,458 --> 01:12:30,958
away or stripping the marine mammal
397
01:12:30,958 --> 01:12:32,958
protection act of its regulations will
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01:12:32,958 --> 01:12:34,875
allow this oil and gas exploration to
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01:12:34,875 --> 01:12:37,125
happen on a more regular basis without
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01:12:37,125 --> 01:12:37,625
those types of regulations.
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01:12:37,625 --> 01:12:39,666
It's really interesting because the Trump
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01:12:39,666 --> 01:12:42,166
administration heavily criticized the
403
01:12:42,166 --> 01:12:44,458
offshore wind industry for causing noise
404
01:12:44,458 --> 01:12:46,833
for marine mammals and stop the offshore
405
01:12:46,833 --> 01:12:49,166
wind industry from developing further
406
01:12:49,166 --> 01:12:52,000
projects while they're allowing for
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01:12:52,000 --> 01:12:54,416
approval harmful projects that emit noise
408
01:12:54,416 --> 01:12:57,250
on a regular basis within the ocean to
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01:12:57,250 --> 01:12:57,625
affect marine mammals.
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01:12:57,666 --> 01:13:02,250
The hypocrisy is just flowing like crazy.
411
01:13:02,750 --> 01:13:04,458
It's insane. But that's exactly what
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01:13:04,458 --> 01:13:06,958
they're going for. No marine sanctuaries.
413
01:13:06,958 --> 01:13:08,666
That means you can explore oil and gas
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01:13:08,666 --> 01:13:10,750
within any of the new proposed marine
415
01:13:10,750 --> 01:13:13,250
sanctuaries. It looks like the
416
01:13:13,250 --> 01:13:16,416
sanctuaries that are in now are free and
417
01:13:16,416 --> 01:13:19,083
safe from these types of disturbances and
418
01:13:19,083 --> 01:13:22,041
extraction for now. Who knows what they
419
01:13:22,041 --> 01:13:24,916
decide to do later on. So a lot of this
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01:13:24,916 --> 01:13:26,625
is a big problem, right? A lot of this is a big problem.
421
01:13:26,625 --> 01:13:28,708
A lot of this is something that just
422
01:13:28,708 --> 01:13:31,458
screws with everything. And I wanted to
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01:13:31,458 --> 01:13:33,875
touch upon something quickly. There have
424
01:13:33,875 --> 01:13:36,500
been times where we've seen this before.
425
01:13:36,708 --> 01:13:39,250
We've seen a cut in staff. Not to this
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01:13:39,250 --> 01:13:41,500
amount, but we have seen it with the last
427
01:13:41,500 --> 01:13:43,083
Trump administration where they cut some
428
01:13:43,083 --> 01:13:45,666
programs or defund some programs, but not
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01:13:45,666 --> 01:13:48,041
to this level. Again, not to this level,
430
01:13:48,041 --> 01:13:49,541
but happened in Canada under the Harper
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01:13:49,541 --> 01:13:51,708
administration for Prime Minister Harper,
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01:13:51,708 --> 01:13:54,250
where they went through and they decided
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01:13:54,250 --> 01:13:55,625
to redesign and restructure the oil and gas industry.
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01:13:55,625 --> 01:13:56,250
And they decided to redesign and
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01:13:56,250 --> 01:13:58,500
restructure the programs because they
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01:13:58,500 --> 01:14:00,291
want to change something within the
437
01:14:00,291 --> 01:14:02,125
fisheries act, which is fish habitat that
438
01:14:02,125 --> 01:14:04,041
we had to protect fish habitat. They just
439
01:14:04,041 --> 01:14:06,041
said rolling in to protect fisheries that
440
01:14:06,041 --> 01:14:07,541
have been established for more than 30
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01:14:07,541 --> 01:14:09,791
years. And it could be for commercial
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01:14:09,791 --> 01:14:11,916
recreational or aboriginal fisheries. So
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01:14:11,916 --> 01:14:14,291
indigenous fisheries and they effectively
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01:14:14,291 --> 01:14:16,000
changed the law with that change the law.
445
01:14:16,000 --> 01:14:17,916
They restructured the entire science
446
01:14:17,916 --> 01:14:20,125
sector and government sector within the
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01:14:20,125 --> 01:14:21,958
environment Canada at the time and
448
01:14:21,958 --> 01:14:22,625
Department of Fisheries
449
01:14:22,625 --> 01:14:23,791
and Oceans at the time.
450
01:14:24,666 --> 01:14:26,083
I was there at the Department of
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01:14:26,083 --> 01:14:27,541
Fisheries at the time working out of
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01:14:27,541 --> 01:14:29,583
Burlington where I live now and I
453
01:14:29,583 --> 01:14:32,333
witnessed the change and it was horrible.
454
01:14:32,875 --> 01:14:35,541
They would bring people in like 2550 at a
455
01:14:35,541 --> 01:14:37,208
time. They would bring people in to an
456
01:14:37,208 --> 01:14:39,375
office and said your position has now
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01:14:39,375 --> 01:14:41,416
been affected. In other words, we're not
458
01:14:41,416 --> 01:14:42,916
funding this position anymore because
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01:14:42,916 --> 01:14:44,375
they were unionized. They were able to
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01:14:44,375 --> 01:14:46,583
find other positions within the
461
01:14:46,583 --> 01:14:47,916
government, whether it's under the new
462
01:14:47,916 --> 01:14:50,625
department or the new sectors or if it's
463
01:14:50,625 --> 01:14:52,166
something older or somewhere else, but
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01:14:52,166 --> 01:14:53,333
they would potentially have
465
01:14:53,333 --> 01:14:53,625
to move across the country.
466
01:14:53,625 --> 01:14:56,958
To be able to be a part of those sectors
467
01:14:56,958 --> 01:14:59,041
made it very difficult. Employee morale
468
01:14:59,041 --> 01:15:01,291
was very, very low and it wasn't until
469
01:15:01,291 --> 01:15:03,208
the Trudeau government came in had
470
01:15:03,208 --> 01:15:04,916
mandates where they actually read out the
471
01:15:04,916 --> 01:15:06,500
mandate for each of the departments and
472
01:15:06,500 --> 01:15:08,041
say, Hey, you know what? You are know
473
01:15:08,041 --> 01:15:10,958
exactly what you're doing. It sucked and
474
01:15:10,958 --> 01:15:12,000
it's going to suck for a lot of the
475
01:15:12,000 --> 01:15:13,666
people. Now, if you know somebody who's
476
01:15:13,666 --> 01:15:14,833
in the government, reach out to them.
477
01:15:14,833 --> 01:15:16,291
Sam, sorry you're going through this. I
478
01:15:16,291 --> 01:15:18,541
hope that it gets better over the next
479
01:15:18,541 --> 01:15:20,500
four years, but who knows what will
480
01:15:20,500 --> 01:15:21,625
happen. Well, the courts will hold it up or not. I'm not going to.
481
01:15:21,625 --> 01:15:25,958
But that's it for my time on today's
482
01:15:25,958 --> 01:15:28,166
episode. Obviously not good news that we
483
01:15:28,166 --> 01:15:30,041
see and hopefully it will get better.
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01:15:30,041 --> 01:15:31,291
Hopefully, like I said, the courts will
485
01:15:31,291 --> 01:15:33,916
uphold the laws of the land and the laws
486
01:15:33,916 --> 01:15:36,000
of the sea and hopefully the funding will
487
01:15:36,000 --> 01:15:37,750
get back and people can get back to their
488
01:15:37,750 --> 01:15:39,458
jobs. But we're going to have to see. I'd
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01:15:39,458 --> 01:15:40,791
love to hear your questions and comments
490
01:15:40,791 --> 01:15:43,166
on this episode to hit me up on Instagram
491
01:15:43,166 --> 01:15:43,625
at how to protect the ocean. Of course, don't forget to subscribe and hit that notification
bell to hear all of the stuff that's coming out, not only the US, but worldwide of ocean.
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01:15:51,666 --> 01:15:55,708
Thank you so much for joining me on
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01:15:55,708 --> 01:15:57,333
today's episode of the how to protect the
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01:15:57,333 --> 01:15:58,833
ocean. I'm your host, Andrew from the
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01:15:58,833 --> 01:16:00,458
true North strong and free. Have a good
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01:16:00,458 --> 01:16:01,583
day. I'll talk to you next
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01:16:01,583 --> 01:16:02,625
time. Happy conservation.
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