Dana Morse, an aquaculture researcher with Maine Sea Grant, checks on ear-hung scallops attached to an anchor chain on a mussel raft along the Damariscotta River in South Bristol on June 8, 2016. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald

The Trump administration has agreed to renegotiate funding for Maine Sea Grant, one of the state’s key coastal resource programs, following conversations between U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnik and U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

The renegotiation would put funding back on the table so long as the work supported by the program “focuses on advancing Maine’s coastal economies, working waterfronts and sustainable fisheries,” Collins’ office said in an emailed statement Wednesday afternoon. 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Saturday that it was rescinding the $4.5 million award that supports marine science research, workforce development and education across the state for four years.

It’s unclear when the money would be restored and when projects could resume. Maine Sea Grant will need to reapply for funding, according to the statement. 

“I appreciate the secretary’s willingness to work together to ensure that Maine Sea Grant can continue to conduct research, support a robust pipeline of skilled labor, and ensure that our coastal economies remain profitable hubs for fishermen, lobstermen and hospitality workers,” Collins said in the statement. “It is important that Maine Sea Grant can continue to provide valuable services for communities across the state for years to come.”

“Through these bilateral negotiations, the department will ensure that the American people, including hardworking Mainers like lobstermen and fishermen, receive the benefit of the bargain consistent with the administration’s priorities and continued relevance to program objectives,” Nancy Hann, NOAA’s deputy undersecretary for operations, wrote in a memorandum.

Hann said the negotiations will modify the requirements of Maine Sea Grant’s award. It is unclear how Maine Sea Grant’s current work and focus differs from the Trump administration’s priorities — and whether the organization will have to shift that work to fall in line.

The University of Maine System oversees Maine Sea Grant. The program supported 332 businesses and 565 jobs in 2023 and generated $23.5 million of economic activity on $1.5 million in funding that year — roughly $15 for every federal dollar invested, according to the organization.

The news of the funding termination sent shockwaves through Maine’s fisheries industry. Maine Sea Grant Director Gayle Zydlewski said the funding getting pulled was “devastating.”

The Maine Lobstermen’s Association called Maine Sea Grant “an important partner” in “preserving our way of life.”

In a termination letter that was provided to the Press Herald, NOAA official Timothy Carrington wrote that the activities of Maine Sea Grant are “no longer relevant to the administration’s priorities and program objectives.”

But Collins said she explained to Lutnick how important Maine Sea Grant is to the state’s coastal communities and that losing the funding would “cause devastating harm.”

This was the first major cut to NOAA, and it is the first program under the University of Maine System that has lost all of the funding it needs for base operations. The loss of funding also comes two weeks after President Donald Trump threatened to cut Maine’s federal funding in the wake of a confrontation with Gov. Janet Mills over the state’s refusal to ban transgender athletes from competing in girls’ sports. 

The Press Herald reached out to administrators from the 33 comparable programs in other states Tuesday and Wednesday. The 16 that have so far responded said they haven’t lost funding.

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, and Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, asserted this week that the Trump administration decided to defund Maine Sea Grant as retaliation, noting that there did not appear to be any similar cuts at other Sea Grant programs.

On Wednesday, they said they were pleased that Lutnick is willing to reconsider the termination, but argued that the system should not have to reapply for “funding that was improperly taken away from them in the first place.”

“It is critical that the federal government honor its commitment to supporting research and development in coastal communities to ensure the future success and resilience of Maine’s marine economy and immediately restore the Maine Sea Grant’s full funding,” King and Pingree said in a written statement.

Collins, meanwhile, has also spoken with leadership at the University of Maine and the director of Maine Sea Grant.

University of Maine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy, in a written statement Wednesday night, said she was “deeply appreciative of Senator Collins’ leadership and relentless advocacy” for the program.

She said she looks forward to finding a mutually agreeable path forward and noted an “outpouring of support” since the weekend announcement.

Collins has also “exchanged text messages” with Trump adviser and billionaire Elon Musk, she told Politico yesterday. Collins wouldn’t say what the texts have been about, but said she has raised objections to some of the cuts and Musk’s role in the U.S. government.

Staff Writer Daniel Kool contributed to this report.