Well, it seems that furloughs of NOAA Fisheries staff have our feature article for this month stuck in the review process. We’ve been looking forward to publishing an overview of Alaska-based EM initiatives, but the folks finalizing it have been sent home.
We thought about cobbling something together last-minute, but chose instead to take a deep breath—several, in fact—and ponder the situation we find ourselves in.
Bureaucracies are never perfect; in fact it often seems their imperfections are hardwired. This is not news. But we all benefit from having an effective, well-motivated federal workforce. And from having that workforce actually, you know, working.
Whether or not we publish an article on time is not a big deal, but I’ve been involved with US fisheries for over 50 years, land and sea, and have relied on NOAA personnel in every single one of those years. Countless others—including many of you reading this—rely on them as well.
Our nation’s federal workers deserve better than they’re getting, and so do the rest of us. We hope to see them back soon.
