Saving Seafood

MAINE: Scientists report high level of whale activity off Maine coast this fall

November 18, 2023 — Several North Atlantic right whales have been spotted in the Gulf of Maine in recent weeks, including a mother and her 10-month-old calf. The New England Aquarium said it also recently sighted a third right whale about 35 miles southeast of Portland.

The aquarium is reporting the appearance of dozens of humpback whales and endangered fin whales in the Gulf of Maine this fall, along with an endangered blue whale just south of Boothbay.

“The amount of wildlife we’ve seen feeding has really been quite astounding,” Orla O’Brien, a scientist who leads the aerial survey team for the New England Aquarium, said in a statement. “From fin whales lunge feeding on krill, to right whales and basking sharks skim feeding side by side, to groups of humpbacks, pods of dolphins and a blue whale — all brought here by a large amount of prey in the Gulf of Maine.”

The locations of critically endangered right whales are of interest to scientists, because warming waters in the northern Atlantic Ocean have changed the species’ traditional distribution patterns.

Read the full article at Maine Public

Could wind turbines affect right whales’ food source? More study needed, says new report

November 16, 2023 — More research is needed to determine whether offshore wind turbines will affect North Atlantic right whales’ food source around the Nantucket Shoals, scientists have concluded in a new report. And it may be challenging to divorce those impacts from those brought by climate change.

Right whales, a critically endangered species, are using the shoals, an area of shallow waters, for breeding and feeding. The shoals lie east of several planned offshore wind projects. Last year, federal scientists expressed concern that wind projects could disrupt right whales’ food supply: dense collections of tiny organisms, called zooplankton.

In response, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the lead agency on offshore wind development, convened an independent committee in April to evaluate what impacts wind turbines might have on the shoals and the whales’ prey.

However, due to knowledge gaps and a lack of research on this side of the Atlantic, the answers remain elusive.

“The studies available about the effects and implications of wind farms on local ecosystems are not sufficient to say with absolute certainty whether the turbines would have effects,” said committee chair Eileen Hofmann, a professor at Old Dominion University and chair of the scientific committee, which worked under the National Academies of Sciences.

Read the full article at the New Bedford Light

Offshore wind power impact on right whales uncertain, says National Academies study

November 13, 2023 — Wind energy projects under construction off southern New England could have effects on the endangered North Atlantic right whale and ocean ecosystem in the Nantucket Shoals region. But it is difficult to determine how those impacts are different from ongoing climate change and other ecosystem trends, according to a report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.

“The report recommends further study and monitoring of the oceanography and ecology of the Nantucket Shoals region to fully understand the impact of future wind farms,” according to a summary from the academies.

Right whales have increased their use of Nantucket Shoals waters in recent years, and some scientists have recommended setting buffer areas around wind energy development areas to ensure future turbine operations don’t alter the local ocean ecosystem.

The National Academies study was commissioned by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to address those concerns. The resulting 106-page paper released Oct. 13 concludes that much more detailed study and modeling is required to predict how operating massive wind turbines may change wind and water currents, and food available for whales.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Threat to whales cited in wind project appeal

September 27, 2023 — A group of Nantucket residents opposed to an offshore wind installation that is nearing completion want another round in their long-running legal fight.

The Nantucket Residents Against Turbines organization, which refers to itself as ACK RATS, late last week filed an appeal challenging a federal judge’s ruling in May that effectively dismissed the group’s prior complaint against the Vineyard Wind project.

Plaintiffs continue to argue that federal regulators including the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management failed to consider risks the wind turbines pose to North Atlantic right whales, an endangered species with only a few hundred animals remaining in the wild. Citing the threat of vessel strikes and whales experiencing hearing loss from turbine pile-driving and operation, the group alleges that allowing Vineyard Wind to proceed will push the whales closer to a “watery grave.”

Read the full article at WWLP

$82M will help protect whales from vessel strikes after over 60 strandings on Atlantic Coast

September 19, 2023 — The tragic and recurring trend of large whales washing up on the Atlantic Coast has not stopped.

Nor have investigations to determine why they keep happening — although ship strikes have been to blame in many cases.

In the meantime, officials hope new federal money will help to surveil and protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale and benefit other ocean species in the process.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s fisheries division, or NOAA Fisheries, on Monday said $82 million from the Biden-Harris Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act will help “to conserve and recover” endangered North Atlantic right whales.

Read the full article at NJ.com

NOAA is looking to add regulations for some boat speeds to help protect whales, but what are the impacts?

July 10, 2023 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is proposing stricter speed restrictions for boats in the Atlantic, and environmental groups and boating industry experts are sparring ahead of the administration’s December deadline.

NOAA’s proposed rule would expand on existing requirements by reducing the maximum speed limit for commercial and recreational boats of 35 feet or larger to 10 knots, or about 11.5 mph, in zones across the East Coast. Currently, speed reductions only affect boats 65 feet or larger.

“When you require a vessel to go under 11 miles an hour, which is roughly the speed you would ride your bicycle in your neighborhood, then you don’t take into account the sea conditions,” said Jeff Angers, president of the Center for Sportfishing Policy.

Anglers said an exemption from going 10 knots if the National Weather Service has issued a gale-force warning isn’t adequate. A gale force warning is issued when winds hit 39 mph. But even at 35 mph, winds can cause safety issues for boaters and guests, he said.

Read the full article at Yahoo! News

Georgia congressman wants to block US agency from slowing boats to protect endangered whales

June 23, 2023 — A Georgia congressman moved Friday to stop a federal agency from imposing new speed restrictions on boats and ships in order to protect critically endangered whales.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration proposed a year ago to broaden the geographical area of its seasonal speed restrictions along the U.S. East Coast and expand the types of vessels required to slow down. The rule change is intended to protect North Atlantic right whales, a species that scientists say is perilously near extinction with a dwindling population of less than 340.

U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, a Republican whose district includes Georgia’s 100-mile (160-kilometer) coast, introduced a bill Friday that would prohibit NOAA from spending federal dollars to implement the rule change until its parent agency, the Department of Commerce, develops and deploys new technology to monitor Atlantic waters for right whales.

Read the full article at the Washington Post

Appeals court grants Maine lobster industry an “overwhelming victory” in right whale rules fight

June 16, 2023 –A U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has ruled in favor of Maine lobstermen in ordering the National Marine Fisheries Service to vacate a 2021 biological opinion regarding North Atlantic right whales that led to more stringent rules being implemented for lobster fishing.

The unanimous 3-0 ruling, filed with a majority opinion written by U.S. Senior Circuit Judge Douglas Ginsburg, found the service went too far in its analysis of the lobster and Jonah crab industries’ potential harm to the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Feds want tougher rules to protect whales, frustrating boaters

June 10, 2023 — Proposed federal regulations would restrict more boaters over more water to try and protect the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale. Environmental advocates and boating industry representatives clashed over the draft rule in a House subcommittee hearing Tuesday.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s new rule would expand the category of boats that must comply with speed restrictions off the East Coast to reduce right whale strikes and deaths, and it would approximately double the total protected area in the North Atlantic. Scientists say the rule is critical to avoiding extinction, but boating industry stakeholders say the restrictions will cost them millions.

Read the full article at wbur

Congress hears arguments on vessel speed limit to protect whales

June 7, 2023 — 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.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman