By Tanya Mulford
In late April, while scouting for piping plover nests on Cape Cod, federal wildlife officials made a gruesome discovery: They found the decomposing corpse of a 48-foot North Atlantic right whale, one of the last individuals from one of the most endangered species in the world. Two days later, scientists who performed a necropsy on the dead whale made an equally disturbing discovery: The animal likely died after being struck by a passing ship.
That bit of bad news, reported by The Boston Globe on May 1, was just the latest in a string of tragic headlines for North Atlantic right whales. Over the last year and three months, eight right whales have died. These eight animals represent a staggering 2.6% of the North Atlantic right whale population, estimated at no more than 300; as grim as these figures are, the recent deaths could cause even more dire consequences to the endangered population, given the fact that six of the dead animals were breeding females (three of them carrying fetuses).
The deaths underscore a simple truth: Even with the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) on their side, North Atlantic right whales are not fully protected because federal agencies don't hold up their end of the law. Commercial fishing and shipping continue to pose significant dangers to this critically dangered species, and the time is now for the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), which is empowered and directed by the ESA and the MMPA to protect the species, to step in with strong regulations to save the North Atlantic right whale from extinction.
Toward this goal, on May 18, The Humane Society of the United States as part of a coalition of nine environmental and animal welfare groups submitted a petition to NMFS formally requesting that the agency immediately issue emergency regulations to protect North Atlantic right whales from further death and injury caused by ship strikes. These regulations would remain until the agency can put in place permanent measures to help save the species.
The petition asks NMFS to require large vessels to slow to 12 knots or less within 25 nautical miles of specified east coast ports (such as those in Jacksonville, Florida; Savannah, Georgia; Charleston and Georgetown, South Carolina; Wilmington and Morehead City, North Carolina; ports in Chesapeake Bay and Delaware Bay; New York; Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island; Boston, Massachusetts; and Portland, Maine) during high-use times and/or re-route their travel paths to avoid aggregations of whales. It's believed that North Atlantic right whales could survive a ship strike from a boat traveling less than 12 knots or that a captain traveling at that speed would have enough time to avoid hitting a whale spotted off the ship's bow. Likewise, right whales, one of the slowest-moving large whales, has enough time to react and move from the path of a boat when the ship is moving at 12 knots or less.
Talking the Talk While Watching Whales Die
Even though NMFS has been talking for years about issuing regulations that would require ships to travel at slow speeds in areas known to be used by large numbers of right whales, it has done nothing. In the meantime, an alarming number of right whales have been killed. These deaths have taken an toll on a population that NMFS acknowledges to be so fragile that its chances for survival are significantly affected by the loss of even one individual.
Jonathan R. Lovvorn, vice president of Animal Protection Litigation for The HSUS, says that it's well past time that NMFS substituted actions for words. "NMFS has been talking for four years about regulating shipping, but has done nothing to actually change the status quo. They must act, and they must act immediately. Otherwise, this coalition may have to consider legal action to force NMFS to live up to its obligations under the Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act."
The other members of the coalition include Defenders of Wildlife, International Fund for Animal Welfare, International Wildlife Coalition, National Environmental Trust, Natural Resources Defense Council, Oceana, The Ocean Conservancy, and the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society.
The North Atlantic right whale is protected by the ESA and the MMPA. Under both these laws, NMFS is obligated and empowered to protect the species. Although NMFS had set up panels(upon which The HSUS serves) seeking to reduce the deaths of right whales, the agency has done little—if anything—to protect the species. A perfect example of this can be found at the Great South Channel near Boston, says Sharon Young, marine issues field director for The HSUS.
"As recently as Friday, May 13, there were as many as 100 right whales clustered in the vicinity of a shipping lane that passes through the whales' critical habitat in the Great South Channel off Massachusetts, and NMFS has done nothing more than try to notify ships and 'suggest' that they slow to 12 knots when passing through the area," Young notes. "This is not enough to save the lives of the whales in this area."
Young points out that the responsibility for saving right whales should be shouldered by both the government and industry. "The shipping industry is responsible for more than half of the known right whale deaths, yet it appears to be willing to sacrifice this highly endangered whale rather than affect its time schedules and profit margin."
If industry won't police itself, Young says, then the government must step in. "It would be a shame if the greatest nation in the world were willing to stand by and watch a magnificent creature like the right whale vanish from the earth rather than require a few simple actions from rich and powerful industries."
How Things Went Wrong
North Atlantic right whales once numbered in the thousands, but they were virtually wiped out by commercial whaling. Aided by the commercial whaling ban, the ESA, and the MMPA, their numbers slowly increased over the last century. But during the past decade, the population has not grown and—more alarmingly—has actually begun to decline as a result of commercial fishing and shipping, dropping to the current estimate of around 300 individuals. Now the species is the most endangered large whale in U.S. waters.
Right whales can be found off the east coast of North America, from Florida to Nova Scotia. Pregnant females give birth in the southern coastal waters off Georgia and Florida, where they stay from December through March and then slowly swim to New England, which is a prime feeding area. The waters through which they pass are now traveled by large numbers of ships and heavily used by commercial fishermen.
The six reproductively mature females who died represent more than 5% the total female breeding population. To lose not one, but six reproductively mature females from this population in a 15-month period may be catastrophic for the species.
What You Can Do
Tell NMFS Assistant Administrator for Fisheries William Hogarth that NMFS must act now on the petition and protect the North Atlantic right whale. Say that right whales are magnificent animals who lived peaceably at sea for millennia before being pushed to the brink of extinction by commercial whalers, and who are now being kept from recovery by commercial fishing and shipping interests. Say that we have it in our power to save this species from extinction.
Use our convenient e-mail form or contact him at:
William T. Hogarth, Ph.D.
Assistant Administrator for Fisheries
National Marine Fisheries Service
1315 East-West Highway, Room 14564
Silver Spring, MD 20910
301-713-2329
Fax: 301-713-1940
Tanya Mulford is the web editor for wildlife and habitat protection.
