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Since 2008, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, has imposed speed restrictions on ships 65 feet and longer when they pass through areas that North Atlantic right whales frequent in order to protect them from vessel strikes.
The leading causes of death for right whales, an endangered species, are getting hit by boats and getting tangled in fishing gear, though climate change is also a critical factor in their decline. Warming ocean temperatures are making it harder for the whales to find food, causing them to have fewer calves, and driving them into areas with fewer protections against entanglements and ship strikes. Because there are so few whales left, every calf born or whale killed is critical to the species’ survival. In 2008, the population was estimated at 313 and growing, reaching a high of 483 in 2011.
Since the speed limit was implemented, more than 270 whales have been born, though many calves have not survived, and for the last decade the whales have struggled to reach the annual calving rate necessary to sustain the species. In 2017, when right whales began venturing into Canada’s Gulf of St. Lawrence, where no protections were in place, the whales entered what’s known as an “unusual mortality event,” in which 43 died and another 127 were injured or spotted in poor health. Canada has since instituted vessel restrictions, but whales have continued to die in both U.S. and Canadian waters. That spate of injuries and deaths helped drive a push to expand the speed rules in the U.S., but NOAA withdrew its proposal in the final weeks of the Biden administration.
Now, the Trump administration is considering rolling back the speed restrictions even further.
NOAA is seeking input on what it calls “deregulatory-focused modernization” of the rule. In other words, the agency says its goal is to replace the existing speed restrictions with “alternative management areas and advanced, technology-based, strike-avoidance measures.” The announcement highlights technologies, including passive acoustic monitoring and infrared imaging, to track where the whales are.
“NOAA encourages economic prosperity in our oceans, and advancements in technology are increasingly allowing maritime commerce to coexist with endangered species,” NOAA administrator Neil Jacobs said in a statement.
Shipping groups and harbor pilots have criticized the existing speed limits, which they say make it harder for ships to safely navigate changing ocean conditions. The American Pilots’ Association applauded the administration’s move to “reduce unnecessary regulatory and economic burdens” while still protecting right whales.
But researchers and environmental groups contend that the existing rules are working and that the new technology isn’t proven.
“It’s a bit of a fool’s errand, putting your eggs in a basket of technology that hasn’t been developed yet and that we don’t know ever will work,” said Rachel Rilee, the oceans policy specialist with the Center for Biological Diversity.
Boston’s New England Aquarium, which coordinates much of the research and monitoring of right whales, echoed those concerns in a statement, saying these technologies “may become a valuable tool for reducing vessel strikes” but need to be further developed and evaluated.
NOAA is accepting information and comments on the new proposal until June 2.
