Woods Hole institutions rally to protect sciences 

It was just days before he was to start a new job as a project manager for a surveying contract through the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), helping to mitigate the impact of offshore wind development on fish monitoring, when he was told that the funding for his job had been cut. 

“It was gut-wrenching to get this job offer, start planning, feel relieved going forward, and then have the rug pulled out from underneath me,” said the member of the Woods Hole science community, a Falmouth resident and father of two children. “You don’t have this new job, and you might not have another job.”

The Times has agreed to keep the researcher’s identity anonymous, as well as those of many others in the science community who were reached for comment, over their fears of being targeted.

For now, the researcher — who has recently been involved with a study on the Vineyard — has grant funding for an existing project that will last through June at a laboratory in Woods Hole; but after that, he’s not sure what he’ll do. And with so many others in the community in the same position, finding an opening has its challenges. He’s seen job postings disappear overnight with a flood of qualified applicants.

The researcher is hardly alone. There’s a tension and unease in the halls of laboratories in Woods Hole, as described by members of the science community — at the center of marine research on a global scale, and host of one of the world’s more renowned thinktanks on climate change. They are worried for their future as the temporary initiative known as the department of energy efficiency, or DOGE, looks for places to make cuts, under the leadership of the world’s richest man, Elon Musk. And scientists worry not just about their own jobs, but about the fate of scientific research as a whole.

“You walk into Coffee O, and everyone knows someone who was just fired, is expecting to be fired shortly, or has no idea if they are going to lose money,” the Falmouth researcher said. “It’s pretty tough.”

There are also worries among town officials in Falmouth about the impact to the local economy, with many jobs and establishments built around serving the science community.

This unease, and actions of the federal government, spurred the community to hold a protest in Woods Hole on Friday, in coordination with similar demonstrations held across the country, including in Washington, D.C., where thousands were reported to have gathered. 

On Friday, an estimated 600 gathered at Ocean Park, some from the Island, many carrying signs with slogans like “Grab ’em by the data,” “Research a better president,” and “You can’t plan a Cape Cod vacation without a forecast.” 

Speakers, including a former senior science advisor to the Obama administration, John Holdren, took defiant tones at the rally, stating that science is integral to the prosperity and health of the country and planet, and that funding for the work should be protected. The speeches took place on a makeshift wooden platform where strong gusts of wind came off Vineyard Sound.

As Holdren explained, six scientific institutions in Woods Hole — including NOAA and U.S.G.S. — employ 2,000 people with an additional 500 in the summer months. In total is a combined budget of $500 million. Three-quarters of that, he said, is funded by the federal government. That funding goes to a variety of research including fish monitoring to studying the impacts of climate change.

“Today, this flow of benefits is at risk,” he said. “I don’t think anyone can predict how far those cuts will go… But it is clear that the damage to the science in Woods Hole could be large.”

Congressman Bill Keating, representing the Island and Southeastern Massachusetts, gave a rousing speech.

“Science isn’t invading our politics and culture, but our politics is invading science right now,” he said, adding that science can be inconvenient to corporations worried about their bottom line. 

“We are going to stand up and make sure that we defend our educational system, our rule of law, and our science,” Keating said to much applause and yells. “We all want to have clean water to drink, we all want to have clear air to breathe, we all want food that is safe and in supply … our lives and children’s lives and our grandchildren’s lives are in the balance.”

Many attending Friday’s rally in Woods Hole said that they felt their spirits lifted by the speeches and by the number of those in attendance. 

Max Holmes, president and CEO of the Woodwell Climate Research Center in Woods Hole — a nonprofit that focuses on climate change — said that while they have not yet been hit significantly by any federal spending cuts yet, staff are worried for what’s to come. “We are all feeling that acutely,” he said, referring to many local workers laid off at NOAA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

“Amazing, dedicated, hard-working, smart people who have built their careers here, or who have wanted to build their careers here — fired for no reason. That’s devastating,” Holmes said. 

But Holmes said that he felt grateful for the show of support on Friday: “I’m hopeful that people standing up and speaking out and rallying can start to make a difference.”

Nicola Blake, a scientist with a decades-long career in atmospheric research, who retired on the Island in recent years, traveled to Woods Hole for the rally. She said that she has felt saddened seeing the sciences targeted by DOGE and the Trump administration. But she felt optimistic following the rally, with people pushing back.

“We can’t just take this lying down,” she said. “We have to do what we can at every opportunity.” 

It’s difficult to know exactly how many have lost jobs in Woods Hole, but there are reports that as many as 25 have been laid off just from NOAA, as reported by CAI Radio. Staff tell The Times that a newly named leader of the local U.S. Geological Survey was reported to have been among those laid off. And the New York Times has reported that nationally, NOAA could lose as much as 20 percent of its 13,000-member workforce.

Reached by The MV Times, Jon Hare, science and research director at NOAA Fisheries in Woods Hole, said that a number of employees were terminated, and some have resigned, but he could not speak about specific personnel issues: “We’re trying to evaluate the impact of the science, like fish monitoring and other science there.”

In Falmouth, while looking for jobs, the researcher who lost out on an opportunity with NOAA recently said that he’s frustrated about how DOGE has gone about making its cuts.

“It’s such a stupid way of going about doing things,” he said. “To claim that something is broken and instead of finding what doesn’t work, you just break it. One of the really scary things, if you break it too much, you can’t necessarily fix it.”