Traveling to international meetings or even a call to Canadian colleagues has become impossible for some of the US government scientists in the context of new guidelines since US President Donald Trump started office.
The Canadian ecologist Aaron Fisk said that he recently tried to set up a virtual call to discuss plans with American colleagues, including a government scientist, to discuss sampling fish.
“We tried to meet a short meeting with one of our employees … and they were denied access,” said Fisk.
In view of the fact that the large lakes – and their water life – exceed both sides of the border and American scientists were suddenly excluded from the meetings.
In combination with the funds, he changes the way in which science works in North America, at least for the time being drastically.
Fisk, the Canadian research chair for the change in Great Lakes ecosystems at the University of Windsor, receives from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for his work.
Noaa, a federal authority, offers scientific information, research and forecasts, including daily weather reports, hurricane prosecution, climate modeling and marine monitoring.
According to Fisk, the entire US research fund that he frozen has added up to more than 700,000 US dollars in the USA or about 993,000 US dollars for CDN.
This has left two of his Great Lakes research projects on ice – one in connection with the examination of the fish movement that used autonomous underwater vehicles to examine how climate change affects the Erisee.
Which internal NOAA -E emails show
In CBC News, e -mails were sent to Noaa employees and the employees were instructed to receive a leading approval for “all upcoming international commitments” by the end of March 2024.
The new guidelines of the NOAA Policy team say that the boundaries for “international engagements in general” should be used in order to be an international topic, an international topic, an international topic, an international topic, an international topic, an international topic, an international topic To include the guideline or an international topic. Scientific cooperation.
Virtual meetings must also be submitted to check if they touch a number of topics: climate, energy, offshore -wind, ocean mapping and exploration, competitive fruits, aquaculture, ocean plastic, world meteorological organization, arctic safety and arctic energy.
E -mails with international colleagues who are scientific in nature and include the exchange of scientific data must also be submitted for review.
CBC News has agreed to protect the identity of the sources that shared this information because they fear retaliation.
CBC News turned to several NOAA officials to ask for a comment.
Rachel Hager, spokesman for the NOAA fishing, denied that federal scientists were instructed to no longer communicate communication with international colleagues.
In a separate e -mail, Mona Allen, director of public affairs at NOAA Research, said that the agency is still obliged to the American public and “we continue to work with partners to provide these important services”.
“Draconian” is changing for Planet bad, says scientist
The mission statement of Noaas website says that its role “goes beyond national borders” in order to monitor global weather and climate and “to work with partners around the world”.
However, the internal e -mails preserved by CBC News seem to undermine this central goal.
“It’s very draconious,” said Fisk.
During his career to Trump’s recent inauguration, he said that it was normal to exchange resources, ideas and data with colleagues south of the border.
“The Great Lakes are an excellent place to show where Canada and the United States come together to do really good research,” said Fisk. “It is as if the border doesn’t even exist.”
According to Fisk, e -mails with his US colleagues slowed down to a minimum and that he is not the only one at the University of Windsor who researched her research on ice.
From examining the effects of climate change to the pursuit of a hurricane, when he travels from the Caribbean on the US coast to Canada, the work of Noaa is closely intertwined with the Canadian weather forecast and research.
Many are concerned about what it will mean for the international research community if a global leader like the United States will go on the way to scientific isolationism.
Gretchen Goldman, President of the Union of the scientists concerned, simply said: “I think science is attacked in the United States.”
But she encouraged her colleagues not to give up hope. “I think we should keep the line and take it every day,” she told CBC News.
Former Noaa official: The workforce could be halved
Reports of impending mass efforts to the US agency have also hit the cold among many federal scientists.
Janne Haugen, an ecologist of fishing, is a NOAA subsidiary who works for a company that is performing by the US government.
Haugen told CBC News that for the time being
“I have e -mails from other employees that I did not answer,” she said.
“I just don’t want to put my head on a chopping block and be fired when I answer in a way that is interpreted as something that I shouldn’t do.”
Andrew Rosenberg, a former deputy director of the National Marine Fisheries Service from NOAA, told CBC News that the performance of 50 percent of the agency’s work on Capitol Hill and within the NOAA would be discussed.
“This is a transition of destruction. I have never seen anything like this,” said Rosenberg, a marine scientist.
He said it was normal for political priorities to shift under a newly elected government, but nothing of the sort.
The fire brigade of politics does not change to American scientific institutions to NOAA.
A Communication At the National Institutes of Health, chaos has created and disappeared data records form the centers for the control of diseases that have sent Canadians Run to archive the information before it is lost.
The environmental protection authority is also located in the crosshairs, in which hundreds of employees were terminated.
According to Rémi Quirion, the President of the International Network for State Scientific Advice, it will not deny that there will be wave effects if this is part of a long -term trend for disassembly or at least strictly restricting work of the American scientific institutions.
“Science should be without limits,” said Quirion. “I think globally, progress and research will slow down.”
No official announcement about changes, says the Canadian government
The Canadian federal government said that it received no official announcement about changes in cooperation with NOAA.
In an e -mail, the spokesman for Environment and Climate Chanad Canada (ECCC) Samantha Bayard emphasized the long -term relationship with US colleagues.
“ECCC and NOAA also work on a number of different fronts every day, including in Arctic waters and the large lakes through joint ice observation and forecasts about the North American ICE service and the production of integrated weather models as part of the North American ensemble forecast system,” Bayard.
Quirion suggested that the situation for Canada could achieve some advantages. As chief scientist of Quebec in a role that the provincial government advises, he said that this could be an opportunity to draw talents.
“We already have inquiries in Quebec … Canadian scientists in the USA who think it may be time to return home,” he said.
But for many it is still too early to see silver connections.
Rosenberg, who has more than 35 years of experience in the government and academic work, said he was angry.
“Does it have an impact on Canada and the rest of the world? You bet,” he said. “The United States has the strongest science company in the world and these people throw it away.”
