U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and 22 other U.S. Senators are calling on President Trump not to eliminate $73 million federal Sea Grant funding for university research into coastal environmental and climate issues.

Connecticut stands to lose $1.16 million in funding for the University of Connecticut’s Sea Grant program.

In a letter sent to Trump and signed by the senators from 16 state – including U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal – Murphy and his colleagues urged the president to preserve a “federal-local partnership that funds 33 university-based research, extension and education centers.”

The senators cited the benefits from $67.3 million in 2015 federal funding for the Sea Grant programs, including an estimated $575 million in related economic activities. “Marine businesses and fishermen in coastal communities rely on the knowledge and skills of Sea Grant staff and outreach materials,” the letter read in part.

“Zeroing out or cutting this funding would have a devastating impact and we strongly urge you to reconsider this decision,” the senators wrote in their letter to the president.

The University of Connecticut program is based at the school’s Avery Point campus in Groton and its staff works on issues ranging from research into healthy coastal eco-systems to sustainable fisheries projects.