Interesting, the blanket speed limit seemed a bit ludicrous to begin with...
This image provided by NOAA shows a North Atlantic right whale in the waters off New England in May 2024. (NOAA via AP)
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is planning to roll back regulations currently in place to keep vessels from striking endangered North Atlantic right whales.
In a drafted notice on the agency’s website, scheduled to be formally issued on Wednesday, the National Marine Fisheries Service, an agency under NOAA, is “considering possible deregulatory action to modify and modernize” efforts to avoid vessel strikes.
The agency first announced its intent to “modernize” right whale protection regulations last month.
The same document states that there are roughly 380 members of the endangered species as of the start of 2024, and that the two main threats to their survival are fishing net entanglement and collisions with vessels.
The population is slowly rising after several years of decline. The whales have gained more than 7% of their 2020 population, according to scientists who study them. Researchers have identified 15 calves this winter, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in January.
The goal of the change, according to the notice, is to do away with “unnecessary regulatory and economic burdens.” It would replace seasonal speed restrictions with other means of avoiding strikes, including “alternative management areas and advanced, technology-based, strike-avoidance measures that maintain or enhance conservation efficacy” for right whales.
The fisheries service implemented seasonal speed restrictions in designated areas of the U.S. East Coast in 2008. It limits most vessels that are 65 feet or longer to 10 knots in those designated areas.
The notice alerts the public that they have 90 days to provide feedback on the proposal. The fisheries service is specifically seeking the public’s input on about a dozen topics, including the effectiveness of modern technology to reduce vessel strikes as well as the efficiency and economic impact of current speed regulations.
Some environmental groups have criticized the move.
Gib Brogan, senior campaign director of Oceana, an international ocean conservation organization, said that speed limits are necessary to protect not only right whales but sailors and vessels, too.
“A vessel colliding with a whale can injure or kill people, destroy vessels, and is often fatal to the whale,” Brogan said in a statement on Tuesday night .
NOAA should not replace speed regulations with “unproven strategies and technologies,” Brogan said.
“Instead, NOAA should use this opportunity to build upon its past research and expertise to improve the existing protections to support the recovery of the North Atlantic right whale and other large whales in the U.S. Atlantic,” Brogan said.
Some shipping businesses and other marine industries have long pushed back at vessel speed rules. The National Marine Manufacturers Association has described speed restrictions as “archaic” and advocated for solutions that rely on technology.
Right whales migrate every year from calving grounds off Florida and Georgia to feeding grounds off New England and Canada. Along the way, they are vulnerable to collisions with ships and entanglement in commercial fishing gear. They were once numerous off the East Coast but were decimated during the commercial whaling era and have been federally protected for decades.
The Biden administration planned to expand slow zones off the East Coast to protect the whales. It also planned to expand the classes of boats required to slow down. However, the federal government withdrew the proposal in the final days of the administration, with officials saying it didn’t have time to finalize the regulations due to the scope and volume of public comments.
Feds plan to roll back speed regulations that protect endangered right whales
A notice of the plan from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is scheduled to be published on Wednesday.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is planning to roll back regulations currently in place to keep vessels from striking endangered North Atlantic right whales.
In a drafted notice on the agency’s website, scheduled to be formally issued on Wednesday, the National Marine Fisheries Service, an agency under NOAA, is “considering possible deregulatory action to modify and modernize” efforts to avoid vessel strikes.
The agency first announced its intent to “modernize” right whale protection regulations last month.
The same document states that there are roughly 380 members of the endangered species as of the start of 2024, and that the two main threats to their survival are fishing net entanglement and collisions with vessels.
The population is slowly rising after several years of decline. The whales have gained more than 7% of their 2020 population, according to scientists who study them. Researchers have identified 15 calves this winter, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in January.
The goal of the change, according to the notice, is to do away with “unnecessary regulatory and economic burdens.” It would replace seasonal speed restrictions with other means of avoiding strikes, including “alternative management areas and advanced, technology-based, strike-avoidance measures that maintain or enhance conservation efficacy” for right whales.
The fisheries service implemented seasonal speed restrictions in designated areas of the U.S. East Coast in 2008. It limits most vessels that are 65 feet or longer to 10 knots in those designated areas.
The notice alerts the public that they have 90 days to provide feedback on the proposal. The fisheries service is specifically seeking the public’s input on about a dozen topics, including the effectiveness of modern technology to reduce vessel strikes as well as the efficiency and economic impact of current speed regulations.
Some environmental groups have criticized the move.
Gib Brogan, senior campaign director of Oceana, an international ocean conservation organization, said that speed limits are necessary to protect not only right whales but sailors and vessels, too.
“A vessel colliding with a whale can injure or kill people, destroy vessels, and is often fatal to the whale,” Brogan said in a statement on Tuesday night .
NOAA should not replace speed regulations with “unproven strategies and technologies,” Brogan said.
“Instead, NOAA should use this opportunity to build upon its past research and expertise to improve the existing protections to support the recovery of the North Atlantic right whale and other large whales in the U.S. Atlantic,” Brogan said.
Some shipping businesses and other marine industries have long pushed back at vessel speed rules. The National Marine Manufacturers Association has described speed restrictions as “archaic” and advocated for solutions that rely on technology.
Right whales migrate every year from calving grounds off Florida and Georgia to feeding grounds off New England and Canada. Along the way, they are vulnerable to collisions with ships and entanglement in commercial fishing gear. They were once numerous off the East Coast but were decimated during the commercial whaling era and have been federally protected for decades.
The Biden administration planned to expand slow zones off the East Coast to protect the whales. It also planned to expand the classes of boats required to slow down. However, the federal government withdrew the proposal in the final days of the administration, with officials saying it didn’t have time to finalize the regulations due to the scope and volume of public comments.
