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Save America's Coral Reefs Before the Budget Ax Falls
Final signature count: 28
28 signatures toward our 30,000 goal
Sponsor: Free The Ocean
The federal program that keeps America's coral reefs alive is on the chopping block — and Congress can stop it.
Coral reefs cover less than one percent of the ocean floor, yet they shelter roughly a quarter of all marine species on Earth. In the United States, they shield coastlines from storm surge, sustain commercial fishing industries, and anchor tourism economies worth billions of dollars a year. Now, the federal program that keeps those reefs alive is targeted for elimination.
The White House's proposed FY2027 budget would cut approximately $1.6 billion from NOAA's overall funding.3 NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Program — which has historically operated on roughly $26 million per year — is slated for a complete zeroing out.5 With it would go decades of reef monitoring, active restoration work, and scientific infrastructure that no state or local government can replicate on its own.
Reefs Already in Crisis
These cuts would arrive at the worst possible moment. The planet is in the grip of a global mass bleaching event driven by record ocean temperatures. Florida's reef tract — the third largest barrier reef system on Earth — has endured repeated bleaching episodes, with some stretches losing major coral cover in a matter of weeks. The same reefs that protect Florida's coastlines from flooding are degrading at precisely the moment that protection is most critical.2
The Pacific territories face an equally urgent threat. Guam's ocean research and reef protection programs are on the edge of a near-total shutdown under the proposed FY2027 cuts, leaving local resource managers without the monitoring data they depend on.6 NOAA-supported coral programs throughout the region generate data that local governments cannot produce independently.1
What Would Actually Be Lost
Federal reef funding is not passive. NOAA-backed scientists and restoration teams have built coral nursery programs, developed disease-intervention protocols, and propagated heat-tolerant coral varieties that are actively slowing reef losses in some areas. That work took decades to develop. Eliminate the funding and the work stops — along with the expertise, the nurseries, and the monitoring networks.
The economic consequences extend far beyond the ecosystem. Coastal communities from the Florida Keys to Hawaii to the Mariana Islands depend on healthy reefs for flood protection, commercial fisheries, and tourism jobs.4 Rebuilding a degraded reef system costs far more than maintaining one — and in many cases, once a reef crosses a critical threshold, that window to intervene closes permanently.
Congress Can Stop This
Lawmakers have defended NOAA's scientific programs from deep cuts before. In early 2026, Congress moved to preserve NOAA funding for fisheries and climate research, demonstrating that appropriators recognize the program's value — and that sustained public pressure shapes final spending decisions.7
Congressional appropriators hold the authority to reject any budget proposal that eliminates dedicated coral reef funding. They can restore full support for NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Program. What they need is a clear signal from the public that this program matters.
Add your name to tell Congress and NOAA leadership to protect and fully fund the Coral Reef Conservation Program — and to reject any budget that guts America's coral reef conservation efforts.
