Trump cuts threaten safety training for America’s most dangerous jobs

Reuters

June 1st, 2025

By Leah Douglas

NEWBURYPORT, Massachusetts - By the time Robbie Roberge spotted the fire consuming his boat's galley last August, he knew he had just minutes to evacuate his beloved Three Girls fishing vessel, named for his daughters.

As the flames spread up the boat's walls, he helped his crew into safety suits, deployed a life raft and made a mayday call to alert nearby mariners and the U.S. Coast Guard that he was abandoning ship more than 100 miles offshore.

Roberge, a commercial fisherman from South Portland, Maine, learned how to handle such an emergency just three months earlier at a workshop held by Fishing Partnership Support Services, a nonprofit that has trained thousands of East Coast fishermen in safety practices.

On May 20, Roberge cut a fishing trip short to bring the six-man crew from his remaining boat, the Maria JoAnn, to another FPSS training in Newburyport, Massachusetts.

"I have years of experience, but not dealing with emergencies," said Roberge, whose handling of the fire led to a successful rescue with no injuries. "I make it a point to be here."

Such safety trainings - aimed at fishermen, loggers, farmers and other workers in America's most dangerous jobs - could be scaled back or wound down entirely as soon as July, according to Reuters interviews with a dozen health and safety experts and organizations, as a result of President Donald Trump's drive to slash the size and cost of the federal government.

Those cuts have fallen heavily on the federal government's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services that is a key funder of workplace safety training and research.

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A New Wave: The National Future Fishermen Coalition Launches in Support of the Next Generation of U.S. Commercial Fishermen

National Future Fishermen Coalition

May 22nd, 2025

By Maité Duquela

[May 22nd, 2025] – Today marks the official launch of the National Future  Fishermen Coalition (NFFC), a united effort dedicated to ensuring a strong, resilient,  and opportunity-rich future for America’s commercial fisheries. By investing in the next  generation, NFFC is working to secure a future where fishing remains a vital and  thriving part of our nation's coastal economies, food systems, and cultural heritage. 

As America’s working waterfronts face mounting challenges - ranging from rising  operational costs and burdensome regulations to reduced access to waterfront  infrastructure and increasing consolidation within the seafood supply chain—the need  for action has never been more urgent. "The graying of the fleet is not just a  nationwide issue, it is a global issue”, comments Andrea Tomlinson, Executive  Director of the New England Young Fishermen's Alliance (NEYFA). “De-stigmatizing  our small- and medium-sized boat fishermen and women is the first step toward  educating our nation about our sustainable national seafood supply.” 

Echoing this urgency, Raymond Rowell, Permit Bank Director at the Cape Cod  Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance (CCCFA), noted, “Without investment in training  the next generation, it’s difficult to envision a future at all. In an industry hampered by  increasing regulations and razor thin margins, boat owners can’t afford to miss trips  because they lack crew members.” 

NFFC represents the first national coalition of its kind focused on addressing the  ‘graying of the fleet’ that threatens the future of commercial fishing. “This initiative  brings together a national body of individuals and organizations to strategically  tackle the generational shift happening in commercial fisheries,” said Bob Gill, a  respected independent fisheries expert and Steering Committee member of the NFFC.

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Judge blocks Trump EPA from clawing back $14 billion in climate grants, April 16, 2025

Washington Post

April 16th 2025

By Maxine Joselow

A federal judge has temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency from terminating at least $14 billion in climate grants approved under President Joe Biden.

U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan of D.C. issued a preliminary injunction late Tuesday that prohibits the EPA from “unlawfully suspending or terminating” the grant awards. She also ordered Citibank, which was tasked with disbursing the funds, to release the money to the grant recipients.

The decision deals yet another setback to the Trump administration’s efforts to freeze climate spending across the government. Another federal judge ruled Tuesday that agencies must release billions in additional climate funding that had been paused since Inauguration Day.

Chutkan’s ruling marks the latest twist in an extraordinary fight over a grant program that remains central to Biden’s climate legacy. Commonly known as a “green bank,” the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund authorized tens of billions in grants for recipients to invest in green technologies such as solar panels, heat pumps, electric vehicles and more.

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