The National Science Foundation announced on June 18, 2026 that it will reverse its previous decision to dismantle the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI), a critical network of 900 deep-sea instruments providing real-time ocean monitoring data. The NSF stated effective immediately it will not proceed with further removal of equipment and will continue operations including planned maintenance.

While the Endurance Array was previously removed from the water, the NSF is developing plans to redeploy the equipment after servicing. The reversal represents a significant shift from the Trump administration’s initial effort to descope the initiative as part of federal budget constraints.

US Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) successfully championed bipartisan legislation to pause the dismantling. The Ocean Observatories Initiative provides essential data for fishery management, coastal community resilience, and marine scientific research across the United States.

Scientists, lawmakers, and climate advocates had criticized the planned dismantling as counterproductive to ocean research and climate monitoring. The network’s publicly available data supports multiple stakeholders including fishermen, coastal communities, and research institutions.

NSF will issue a Dear Colleague Letter to collect input from stakeholders and convene an expert panel to assess observational needs and identify a sustainable path forward for NSF’s ocean observing systems.