North Atlantic Right Whales

do little to save right whales but could result in severe economic hardship for maritime workers, vessel operators and the communities they serve.

PVA recommended that NOAA:

� Retain the existing May 15 date for the lifting of the 10-knot vessel speed in Cape Cod Bay and Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary (located east of Boston at the mouth of Massachusetts Bay) and adjacent waters.

� Exempt commercial whale-watching vessels from the 10-knot vessel speed limit.

� Remove estuaries and bays between the mainland and certain islands, such as Fire Island, Block Island, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, from the Atlantic Speed Zone and adjacent proposed speed zones.

� Create a program to instruct crewmembers in right whale identi cation, detection and avoidance, and set up a program so that NOAA can communicate with mariners directly regarding right whale locations.

No one knows when, or if, NOAA will act on these recommendations — a worry for vessel operators as they plan for the 2023 season. Most concerning is the uncertainty about Cape Cod Bay. Under current regulations, the 10-knot- per-hour speed limit ends on May 15. The proposed regulations keep the speed limit in place until May 30.

Three companies run high-speed ferries across the bay to Provincetown, Mass. Two operate out of Boston — Bay State Cruise Company and Boston Harbor Cruises. The third, run by Capt. John Boats, makes the trip from Plymouth, Mass.

These companies are prime examples of the negative impact on passenger vessel operators of the proposed rule change and argue they simply cannot run when the speed limit is in place. They normally operate at about 40 knots and make the 55-mile trip from Boston to Provincetown in 90 minutes. At 10 knots per hour that’s ve-and-a-half hours.

“That’s longer than it takes to y from Boston to Europe,” said Mike Glasfeld, managing member, Bay State Cruise Company. “No one would do that.”

To lose the last two weeks of May, including the busy Memorial Day weekend, “would cost us the equivalent of 50% of the pro ts we made in our last pre-Covid season,” Glasfeld said in his letter to NOAA. Worse, he wrote, is the challenge of a mandatory Dynamic Speed Zone, which could come at any time and severely limit pro ts.

It would also hurt Provincetown’s economy. In a letter to NOAA, the town asked for reconsideration of the proposed end date for the speed limit. “Taking two weeks away from the short summer season will be a hardship for business owners,” the town’s letter said. “Provincetown’s tourism economy exceeds $250 million annually, and the ferries bring 50% of visitors in the form of day-trippers and weeklong visitors who stay in our accommodations. Small businesses will suffer from the lost revenue.”

In a December conference call hosted by Ed Welch, PVA’s legislative director, operators described how they were trying to help themselves. Many had reached out to elected of cials, and Glasfeld said he had even hired a lobbyist, but no one was upbeat.