Federal funding released for this year's operations of Alaska research vessel; future undetermined
The Sikuliaq, a National Science Foundation research vessel operated by the University of Alaska Fairbanks, is docked in its homeport of Seward on July 4, 2024. The National Science Foundation and UAF have a new four-year cooperative agreement made effective in December. The agreement calls for the National Science Foundation to provide $54 million for Sikuliaq operations over four years. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
The National Science Foundation has provided funding for the first year of activities in a four-year agreement concerning a research vessel operated by the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
The funding will pay for this year's operations of the Sikuliaq, the ice-capable research vessel operated by UAF's College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences and homeported in Seward, the university said on Monday.
The National Science Foundation owns the vessel. The four-year cooperative agreement, signed in December, includes nearly $54 million in funding for Sikuliaq operations through 2028. This year's share of that is about $11.4 million, according to the agreement.
Whether the remaining money will be released for the following three years of operations is yet to be determined.
'NSF signed a four-year cooperative agreement with UAF to continue operating Sikuliaq, but only funds for the first year have been appropriated. The intent is to continue the partnership for four years, but NSF can't guarantee or obligate funding that hasn't been appropriated yet,' Jeff Richardson, a spokesperson for the UAF's College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, said by email.
A federal law, the Antideficiency Act, bars obligation of funding not yet appropriated by Congress, Richardson added.
The Sikuliaq, commissioned in 2014, is used for annual research cruises in the Gulf of Alaska and in the Arctic. This year, three Arctic cruises are planned, Richardson said. One will study Bering Strait ocean conditions that are causing erosion, flooding, permafrost thaw and other risks, with the goal of better understanding storms that affect Alaska coastal communities, he said. Other cruises will continue past years' monitoring work in the Chukchi and Northern Bering seas, and the final cruise will be used to help study how landfast ice — a term of ice attached to the coastline or shallow sea floor — forms on the Arctic Alaska coastline, he said.
The Sikuliaq is the only ice-capable research vessel in the U.S. academic research fleet, according to the university. Its name comes from the Inupiaq word for 'young sea ice,' and the Sikuliaq was designed to travel in and through the edge of the Arctic ice pack.
The ship's operations support 39 permanent full-time employees and 25 to 30 temporary crew members, according to the university.
News about the National Science Foundation's support for the Sikuliaq comes as the Trump administration has been slashing jobs and funding from numerous federal science programs. There have been deep cuts at the National Weather Service and other National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration divisions, resulting in interruptions to research functions like fish stock assessments and weather data collecting used for global forecasting.
Among the operations identified as vulnerable earlier this month by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, are the research cruises conducted on two NOAA ships, the Oscar Dyson and the Fairweather. The Oscar Dyson, homeported in Kodiak, is used by NOAA to gather information needed for commercial fisheries management in waters off Alaska. The Fairweather, homeported in Ketchikan, is used for surveys mapping coastal waters, gathering ecosystem information and conducting other ocean research.
At least half of the crew members of both ships are 'probationary' employees, with less than a year's experience in their current positions. The Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency project, or DOGE, has fired probationary employees en masse.
A spokesperson for NOAA was not available Monday to comment on the Oscar Dyson and the Fairweather.
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