By Sharon Young

Now is the time to tell the National Marine Fisheries Service that it must protect the North Atlantic right whale. The situation is dire: If the Service doesn't start fulfilling its legal obligation to safeguard this critically endangered species from the dangers posed by large boats, the North Atlantic right whale will become extinct. Its entire population is estimated at only about 300 animals, which means that killing even one or two females a year threatens the very survival of the species.

Four North Atlantic right whales have already been killed this year. This winter, two newborn right whales died in the waters off the southeastern United States. One of them was entangled in fishing gear, and the other was struck by a ship. Two adult females died because of ship collisions in Canadian waters this summer. These are not isolated tragedies: In the past two years, 12 right whales were found dead, including three pregnant right whales and their near-term calves.

Proposed Rules

In 2005, after attempting to work with the National Marine Fisheries Service to strengthen right whale protection, The HSUS joined two other groups in bringing a lawsuit against the Service for its failure to protect right whales as required by the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. The case is still pending. Since we filed our suit, the Service has published proposed rules. The rules are an important step toward improved protection for right whales. They would re-route ships in some of the areas where right whales congregate in larger numbers and would set seasonal speed limits in areas of greatest risk. Naval vessels would be exempted from these rules, so there would be no interference with national defense. 

Speed Kills

Research indicates that if ships slow from 17 knots to 10 knots, the risk to right whales is reduced by more than 50 percent. This reduction in speed allows right whales, who swim at about 5 miles per hour, enough time to avoid a collision. Commercial interests, such as shipping companies and cruise ships, have made it clear that they would rather risk collisions with right whales than change the way that they do business. This politically powerful industry is fighting steps to slow ships seasonally or to establish specified routes through the most risky areas. That is why the public must step in to tell NMFS that it must live up to its responsibility to protect the right whale rather than let the greed of a lobbying group dictate its policy.

What You Can Do

Before Oct. 5, please contact the National Marine Fisheries Service. Say that you care about protecting right whales and you expect the Service to live up to its obligation to ensure the survival of this critically endangered species.

Urge the Service to:

• Adopt the proposed 10-knot speed limit in important right whale habitat
• Ensure that that this speed limit is applied to all vessels greater than 65 feet in length
• Implement seasonal speed limits in key right whale habitats and migratory routes
• Develop a dynamic management system that could quickly impose speed restrictions in areas where groups of whales are sighted, (if those areas are not covered by seasonal restrictions)
• Put speed and routing measures in place by November 2006 to protect mothers and calves in their winter calving grounds in the waters off the southeastern United States
• Designate routes for ships to use when they are passing through northeastern and southeastern critical habitat in order to reduce the chances of collisions

You can send written comments to Dr. David Cottingham, Chief, Marine Mammal Conservation Division, Attn: Right Whale Ship Strike Strategy, Office of Protected Resources, NMFS, 1315 East-West Hwy, Silver Spring, MD 20910. You can email your comments to shipstrike.comments@noaa.gov.