Northeast Congress hears arguments on vessel speeds to protect whales

By Kirk Moore

With only around 340 North Atlantic right whales surviving in one of the world’s most endangered species, preventing their deaths in ship strikes is critical, conservationists say.

“Even one human-caused mortality puts the species at risk of extinction,” whale researcher Jessica Redfern of the New England Aquarium warned, as a Congressional subcommittee heard testimony Tuesday on new proposed vessel speed limits to protect the whales.

A rule proposal by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration could extend 10-knot speed limits in areas when right whales are present, and expand the cover vessels between 35 and protecting the whales, the proposal is seen as a mortal threat by some U.S. maritime groups, from recreational boat builders to charter shing captains and port pilots.

Allowing NOAA to declare 10-knot speed zones would be “the greatest restriction to our nation’s cherished waterways” from Massachusetts to central Florida, said Fred Hugelmeyer, president and CEO of the National Marine Manufacturers Association. Hugelmeyer was one among a panelists of experts invited to the House of Representatives Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries.

NOAA’s proposed “strike reduction rule” is aimed at reducing maritime roadkill. “What makes right whales so vulnerable is they spend so much time at or near the surface,” explained Janice Coit, NOAA’s assistant administrator for sheries. “We can’t a ord to cause even one more whale death per year, and achieve our conservation goals.”