North Atlantic right whale Archives

NOAA may modify vessel speed limits for right whales

March 5, 2026 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration could change its vessel speed rules where North Atlantic right whales migrate along the East Coast, potentially easing seasonal speed restrictions and adopting new technology to help avoid vessel strikes, the agency said March 3.

The proposed “deregulatory action” by NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service aims to “reduce unnecessary regulatory and economic burdens on the regulated community…with alternative management areas and advanced, technology-based, strike-avoidance measures that maintain or enhance conservation efficacy for the endangered North Atlantic right whale,” according to an agency notice in the Federal Register.

History and tradition hold that right whales were a preferred target of early American whalers for their habit of swimming on the sea surface, where they could be pursued by harpooners in small boats. Today the whales’ habits leave them vulnerable to accidental collision with vessels ranging from large sportfishing boats to commercial cargo ships.

The agency has used 10-knot speed limit advisories in waters off the East Coast during periods of higher right whale activity, aiming to reduce the chances of ship strikes.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Trump administration moves to loosen rules around North Atlantic right whale speed limits

March 5, 2026 — Following the U.S. government’s promise to take “deregulatory-focused action” on a vessel speed limit rule designed to protect critically endangered North Atlantic right whales, NOAA Fisheries has issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking to gather feedback.

“This reckless decision threatens the future of North Atlantic right whales,” Conservation Law Foundation Senior Counsel Erica Fuller said in a statement. “The species can’t afford to lose a single whale. Eliminating one of their strongest protections would imperil right whales’ already challenging recovery. At a time when we need stronger, not weaker, protections, this would be another shortsighted move by this administration to help special interest groups.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Messaging Mariners in Real Time to Reduce North Atlantic Right Whale Vessel Strikes

February 12, 2026 — Endangered North Atlantic right whales live in heavily trafficked waters along the U.S. East Coast. Their habitat often overlaps with shipping lanes and port and harbor entrances, which puts them at high risk for vessel strikes—a primary threat to the species. Collisions with large whales can also result in significant and costly damage to boats and injury to passengers. Now, NOAA and partners are using an existing maritime safety technology in a new way to reduce the risk of vessel strikes.

The Automatic Identification System transmits the location, speed, and other characteristics of vessels in real time for navigation safety purposes. All commercial vessels 65 feet or longer are required to carry AIS devices onboard. Together with our partners, we are building a speed limit alert network powered by AIS technology that delivers timely text messages to vessels traveling within important right whale habitats.

Most vessels 65 feet or longer are required by federal law to travel at 10 knots or less in designated locations—called Seasonal Management Areas—at certain times of the year. With this real-time messaging network, shore-based AIS transceiver stations can detect vessel speeds within Seasonal Management Areas. If a regulated vessel is traveling faster than 10 knots, it will receive an alert.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

The race to respond to right whales, via buoys

February 4, 2026 — At 4 p.m. on Jan. 20, new squiggles emerged on Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Senior Scientist Mark Baumgartner’s computer screen. Two years since it was deployed, Savannah’s acoustic buoy finally made its first detection: two contact calls from a North Atlantic Right Whale (NARW).

The calls sound like a questioning “huhhh?” or “hmmm?” pitched low to high, about two seconds each and seconds apart, intended to signal one’s identity to another NARW. While Baumgartner didn’t hear it, the calls were visualized by two small upticks on a frequency graph.

“We were very happy to see it,” said Baumgartner.

Soon after the detection, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) created a voluntary slow zone in the Southeast U.S., alerting ships to slow to 10 knots or less within 15 or so nautical miles of the buoy, bobbing on the surface about 30 miles southeast of Tybee. Ten knots should give enough time for NARW females and their calves to scurry out of the way, said Baumgartner.

Read the full article at Savannah Morning News

MASSACHUSETTS: New state regulation allows easier cleanup of ‘ghost’ fishing gear

February 2, 2026 — For decades, environmental advocates and fishermen have found themselves in a bind.

Private property rights over fishing gear made it impossible for communities to clean up rope, lines, and equipment that had been abandoned in the open ocean — even as the gear piled up, snaring endangered wildlife and forming floating islands of synthetic fibers.

Starting Jan. 30, however, new state regulations from the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) allow local communities to clean up marine fishing gear debris freely, the first step to eliminating what advocates call the “ghost gear” floating in New England’s waters.

Prior to the new rule, fishermen retained ownership rights of all fishing gear still in the water, regardless of its condition or how long it had been left to sea. Any attempt to interfere with or remove that gear by someone outside of DMF or the state environmental police constituted a rights violation. Volunteers and municipalities, meanwhile, could only remove debris that had washed ashore with state agencies’ permission — debris that still piles up by the tons on Massachusetts’ coastlines.

It’s a small change with a whale-sized impact, advocates say, and not a moment too soon. On Jan. 27, researchers found the first recorded North Atlantic right whale death of the year, a four-year-old male that had been fatally injured after getting entangled in fishing gear.

Read the full article at The New Bedford Light

Critically endangered right whale found dead off NC coast

February 2, 2026 — A critically endangered North Atlantic right whale that a team of responders attempted to disentangle from fishing gear nearly two months ago was found dead earlier this week off the North Carolina coast.

The 4-year-old male, identified as “Division,” died from injuries caused by being entangled.

An aerial survey team on Tuesday spotted what was left of Division’s carcass floating about 25 miles offshore of Avon, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

On Dec. 4, 2025, responders from NOAA Fisheries, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission took to the sea to join forces with a Georgia-based aerial survey team from Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute in an effort to document Division’s entanglement and monitor his behavior.

Read the full article at the CoastalReview.org

Number of right whale calves along Southeast coast gives researchers hope

January 30, 2026 — Researchers have spotted 21 North Atlantic right whale calves off the Southeastern coast in recent months, a glimmer of hope for the severely endangered species.

“We’re excited,” said Jessica Thompson, a senior wildlife biologist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. “We have hope that as long as other protections … are in place that these whales will continue to reproduce and give birth to calves and be able to recover.”

The number of mother-calf pairs is the largest identified in 15 years, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries. The right whale calving season starts in the middle of November and runs through the middle of April, which means there’s a chance more could be seen.

The number of females and calves is critical. There are roughly 380 right whales remaining, and just 70 of those are females that can actively reproduce. The species also has been experiencing what scientists call an “unusual mortality event” since 2017. This means 20% of its population is sick, injured or killed every year.

Read the full article at The Atlanta Journal Constitution

Critically endangered right whale found dead off NC coast

January 30, 2026 — A critically endangered North Atlantic right whale that a team of responders attempted to disentangle from fishing gear nearly two months ago was found dead earlier this week off the North Carolina coast.

The 4-year-old male, identified as “Division,” died from injuries caused by being entangled.

An aerial survey team on Tuesday spotted what was left of Division’s carcass floating about 25 miles offshore of Avon, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

At that time, Division was off Georgia’s coast near St. Simons Island.

Read the full article at CoastalReview.org

$30M for right whale research could also help lobster industry

January 21, 2026 — A congressional funding bill contains $30 million for research and monitoring related to the North Atlantic right whale, an endangered species closely tied to the regulation of the lobster industry in Maine and other New England states.

The money is designated for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which oversees state-regulated fisheries.

North Atlantic right whales are one of the world’s most at-risk species, approaching extinction. Threats include entanglement in fishing gear, vessel strikes and climate change.

The money is part of the fiscal year 2026 Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Appropriations bill that passed the U.S. Senate last week, previously approved by the House of Representatives and now heading to President Donald Trump’s desk to be signed into law.

“This funding will support Maine’s lobster industry by improving the incomplete and imprecise science and research upon which the federal government relies,” said U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, chair of the appropriations committee.

Read the full article at Mainebiz

Bill to Support Maine’s Lobster Industry Heads to President’s Desk

January 16, 2026 — U.S. Senator Susan Collins, Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, secured significant funding and legislative language to support Maine’s lobster industry in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) Appropriations bill that passed the Senate today. The bill, which was approved by the House of Representatives last week, now heads to the President’s desk to be signed into law.

“This funding will support Maine’s lobster industry by improving the incomplete and imprecise science and research upon which the federal government relies. The flawed data being used to inform regulations has created unnecessary, burdensome requirements for Maine lobstermen and women,” said Senator Susan Collins, Chair of the Appropriations Committee. “As Chair of the Appropriations Committee, I worked hard to ensure this funding was included in the final funding bill.”

Funding and legislative language advanced by Senator Collins includes:

North Atlantic Right Whale: $30 million for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission for Right Whale related research and monitoring.

Language is also included directing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to work with Canada to develop risk reduction measures that are comparable in effectiveness to U.S. measures.

National Sea Grant Program: $80 million for the National Sea Grant Program. Last year, the Department of Commerce announced that Maine Sea Grant was being defunded. At the urging of Senator Collins, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick directed NOAA to renegotiate the terms and conditions of the work to be performed by Maine Sea Grant to ensure that it focuses on advancing Maine’s coastal economies, working waterfronts, and sustainable fisheries.

American Lobster Research: $2 million for Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank American lobster research through Maine Sea Grant.

$300,000 to support a cooperative research program to collect biological, fishery, and environmental data for American lobster and Jonah crab using modern technology on commercial fishing vessels.

Language is also included that directs this research to be carried out through a partnership of state agencies, academia, and industry with a focus on “stock resilience in the face of environmental changes” and “topics necessary to respond to newly implemented or future modifications to the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan.”

Gray Zone: Report language directing NOAA to work with Canadian and state fisheries officials to develop a cooperative fisheries management plan in the Gray Zone.

In addition, Senator Collins secured more than $73 million for Congressionally Directed Spending projects in Maine through the CJS Appropriations bill. Of these projects, $1 million is included to expand the American Lobster Settlement Index collector survey at the University of Maine.

Read the full article at Senator Susan Collins