Maine Sea Grant

The University of Maine announced today that the federal government has restored $4.5 million in Sea Grant funding, which had been terminated in February.

It's unclear what exactly this means, or what specifically is at issue in the original Maine grant proposal. Maine U.S. Sen. Susan Collins said the Trump administration agreed to renegotiate the terms of the Maine Sea Grant after conversations with her earlier this week.

There is no indication that any of the other 33 Sea Grant programs around the country are facing funding cuts — at least for now — similar to Maine's.

Throughout Maine, volunteers contribute legwork and observations for citizen science projects. These citizen scientists gather valuable data on wildlife,…