Oceana urges President Biden to expediently approve the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration’s (NOAA) proposed vessel speed rule to protect critically endangered North Atlantic Right Whales. Oceana delivered about 20,000 petition signatures and a letter calling for the government to enact new safeguards for these whales. With the extinction of the species on the line, concerned citizens from all 50 states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico signed in support of NOAA’s proposal. Director Gib Brogan said: “We can’t wait any longer for action. The urgency of the threats to North Atlantic Right Whales cannot be understated. Their very existence perilously hangs in limbo as current safe-guards established by our government are insufficient. NOAA’s proposal is not only necessary, it is imperative for the future of this critically endangered species. We urge President Biden to seal his commitment to environmental preservation and hold his agency accountable for following existing law by swiftly approving NOAA’s vessel speed proposal. North Atlantic Right Whale mothers are heading south for calving season where they will face the threat of thousands of speeding boats traveling in their migratory zone. These whales are slow surface swimmers. Curbing speeding boats where they swim is essential to lessening the chance of boat collisions. Smaller boats exempt from speed regulations can and do hit North Atlantic Right Whales, and the new rules would be a step in the right direction to protect them.”
13 congressional leaders wrote to NOAA to support the proposed rule: “We are encouraged to see several critical changes in the proposed rule that better address vessel strike risk throughout the North Atlantic right whale’s U.S. range. These improvements mirror the recommendations issued in the agency’s June 2021 North Atlantic Right Whale Vessel Speed Rule Assessment. We urge the National Marine Fisheries Service to finalize a vessel speed rule as soon as possible after reviewing comments received during the current public comment period.”
29 environmental groups signed a letter of support: “While we are in favor of these improvements from the previous rule and ask that you approve a final rule as quickly as possible, the National Marine Fisheries Service should also consider requiring vessels covered by this rule to carry and continuously transmit automatic identification system devices for public vessel tracking, improving monitoring and enforcement of speed limits, designating dynamic speed zones following visual confirmation of a single North Atlantic Right Whale, including an exemption for permitted disentanglement vessel actively engaged in a response.” Oceana also submitted a 28-page letter to the National Marine Fisheries Service, detailing existing threats and risk mitigation strategies for North Atlantic Right Whales. Studies find that slowing boat speed to 10 knots reduces a North Atlantic Right Whale’s risk of death by collision by 80%–90%. The North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium released its new population estimate for North Atlantic Right Whales, which stands at around 340, of which 80 are breeding females.
Background. North Atlantic Right Whales were named for being the “right” whale to hunt because they were often found near shore, swim slowly and tend to float when killed. They were aggressively hunted, dropping their population from 21,000 to fewer than 100 by the 1920s. After whaling of North Atlantic Right Whales was banned in 1935, their population increased to 483 individuals in 2010, but that progress has now reversed.
Collisions with boats is a leading cause of North Atlantic Right Whale injury and death. They are slow swimmers at 6 mph near the water’s surface. They are dark in color without a dorsal fin, making them difficult to spot. Studies find a vessel’s speed is a major factor in vessel-related collisions. At high speeds, boats cannot maneuver to avoid them, and Right Whales swim too slow to move out of harm’s way. They are at great risk of being struck, causing blunt-force trauma or cuts from ship propellers.
Entanglement in fishing gear used to catch lobster, crab, and other species is another leading cause of North Atlantic Right Whale death. About 85% of whales have been entangled at least once. Ropes have been seen wrapped around their mouths, fins, tails, and bodies, which slow them down further, making it difficult to swim, reproduce, and feed; and can cause death. The lines cut into the whales’ flesh, lead to deadly infections, severed fins, tails, with deep cuts into the bone.