Saving Seafood

Nonprofit sues Trump administration to learn why it’s modifying right whale speed rule

July 9, 2026 — The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) has sued the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump to find out more about the process behind the government’s decision to roll back a vessel speed limit designed to protect North Atlantic right whales.

“The public has a right to know who’s behind a government process that could condemn these whales to extinction,” CBD Oceans Legal Director Kristen Monsell said in a release. “Right whales are facing threats from all directions, and the speed rule is one of their few protections. Federal officials should be making decisions based on science and forward thinking, not industry cronyism and short-term profits at the expense of the ocean’s future.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Tech helps boaters slow down for the endangered North Atlantic right whale, though new federal protections unlikely

July 2, 2026 — Last year, the Museum of Coastal Carolina agreed to take part in the ship speed monitoring system during the endangered right whale calving season. The technology was installed through a partnership between the federal agency, NOAA, and Maritime Information Systems, Incorporated.

The museum, located in Ocean Isle Beach, joined about 60 other entities along the East Coast to send signals to ships 65 feet and longer to slow down to 10 knots in certain management areas from the beginning of November until the end of April.

Jamie Justice is the director of programs and exhibits for the Ocean Island Museum Foundation, which runs the Museum of Coastal Carolina and Ingram Planetarium.

“We’ve got an antenna that sends the signals out in about a 50-mile radius,” she said.

Read the full article at WHQR

One lobsterman’s lawsuit going to the Supreme Court

June 24, 2026 — In 2023, the state of Maine mailed a package to Vinalhaven lobsterman Frank Thompson. “I got the little black thing in the mail, and the Department of Marine Resources (DMR) said, ‘hook it up and turn it on.’ I did. They wanted to track us, to collect data. Some guys mailed it back, but the DMR just sent it back to them. But I was curious, and so I sent it to a friend of mine at Google, and he said, ‘yeah, it’s tracking you 24/7 whether you’re fishing or not, and it has the potential to transmit video and audio.’”

According to legal filings, available here, “the primary purpose is to reduce the risk of North Atlantic right whales from getting entangled in fishing lines… (1) improve information available to fishery managers and stock assessment scientists; (2) support the development of offshore renewable energy in U.S. waters; and (3) improve the efficiency and efficacy of fishery management and offshore enforcement efforts in the EEZ.”

It was too much for Thompson and many other lobstermen, who contend that then DMR commissioner Pat Keliher told them that it had nothing to do with the whales or the wind, but never gave a definitive answer on what it was for, even when asked. They say it violates their 4th Amendment protection from unlawful search and seizure, and Thompson is now taking the case to the Supreme Court.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Endangered whale recently seen off Cape Cod may need rescue after entanglement

June 15, 2026 — A young right whale that was seen off Massachusetts two months ago may need to be rescued after it was observed in Canadian waters with fishing gear in its mouth.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada said that on June 8, aerial observers spotted an entangled North Atlantic right whale in the Gulf of St. Lawrence near Shippagan, New Brunswick. They said if the whale is spotted again and conditions allow, “efforts will be made to remove any gear from the animal.”

The New England Aquarium said that the unnamed 5-year-old male was seen gear-free in Cape Cod Bay on April 21.

Read the full article at CBS News

Highly endangered right whales see a baby boom, but threats still loom

May 22, 2026 — A jump from 11 North Atlantic right whale births in 2024-25 season to 23 for this season might sound like a nice little bump.

But when the entire population of the North Atlantic right whale can fit in the main stage at Wilmington’s Thalian Hall, you know overall numbers are still incredibly low.

Still, researchers and environmentalists say this season’s calving numbers for the highly endangered marine mammal are a positive sign − especially after some subpar years since the start of the 2010s.

The 2025-26 season represented the highest number of births since 2009, and the fourth highest on record.

Read the full article at Star News Online

Right whale calving season brings ‘cautiously optimistic’ hope

May 14, 2026 — North Atlantic right whales, which give birth off the coast of Georgia, the Carolinas and Florida each winter, had their most successful calving season in more than 15 years. There are only about 380 right whales still alive, so every new baby is considered critical to keeping the species from extinction.

Scientists spotted 23 right whale calves swimming with their moms this past calving season, which runs from November to April. It’s the most new calves since 2009. The number has researchers “cautiously optimistic,” said Amy Warren, scientific program officer at the New England Aquarium. But she said calving is only part of the whales’ story.

“Having 23 calves is excellent, but we hope that all of these 23 calves can make it through the first year and then into adulthood,” she said.

It’s not uncommon for calves and adult whales alike to be killed, often by boat strikes or entanglements in fishing gear.

Read the full article at Savannah Now

Conservationists ask to defend US right whale speed rule in court

May 14, 2026 — A group of conservation organizations have filed a request to defend vessel speed limits designed to protect North Atlantic right whales from a legal challenge, questioning U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration’s willingness to fully defend the regulation in court.

“With lawmakers and the Trump administration trying to delay right whale safeguards for another decade, preserving the Vessel Speed Rule is more important than ever,” Conservation Law Foundation Senior Counsel Erica Fuller said in a release. “This rule is the only one that protects the few remaining right whales from vessel strikes. Weakening it would be a reckless abandonment of our responsibility to protect endangered marine life and the health of our oceans for generations to come.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Numbers of endangered Right Whale calves rebound, but threats remain

May 8, 2026 — A new count shows increased numbers of mother-calf pairs in the Atlantic, but their total numbers are still less than 400.

The number of one of the planet’s most endangered whales may be rebounding.

Clearwater Marine Aquarium researchers counted 23 Right Whale calves during their annual survey. That’s up from 11 mother-calf pairs counted last year.

The whales live in the Atlantic from Florida northward to North Carolina, although their range is expanding north as the oceans heat up. They’re susceptible to ship strikes, and fewer than four hundred are known to remain.

Melanie White directs the North Atlantic Right Whale conservation project with the Clearwater Marine Aquarium.

“This is a critically endangered species, and so every individual is vitally important to the population,” she said. “And the number is well above where it was in previous years, actually well over a decade, have we gotten a chance to see mother calf pairs so high.”

White said there’s no clear reason for the increase, other than their food supply seems to be stable and fewer boat strikes were recorded.

“There’s a lot of work up and down the entire East Coast trying to protect these whales, not only on the calving grounds, but also on the feeding grounds in the northern portion of the North Atlantic Ocean, where they’re going for their feeding seasons,” she said. “So these animals need to be able to find food and have a good supply of food so they can not only become pregnant, but bring that calf to term.”

Read the full article at WUSF

Endangered whale protections may be delayed to 2035 under Trump-backed plan

May 5, 2026 — For roughly 380 right whales left in the North Atlantic, which can die after getting tangled in fishing ropes or hit by ships, the Trump administration said this month it wants to delay new protections by almost a decade in favor of commercial fishing interests.

The sleek black whales, which weigh as much as a midsized bulldozer, are critically endangered and their numbers have declined sharply in recent decades. Environmental groups say reducing deaths and injuries caused by people is essential to the species’ recovery.

The whales give birth off Florida and Georgia before making a long migration north to feed off New England and Canada. Protected areas of ocean aid them on their journey, but scientists have said they have strayed from those zones in recent years in search of food as the oceans have warmed.

A proposal by U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat from Maine, would push back new federal protections for right whales to 2035, and allow time to craft regulations that are less burdensome to the fishing industry. The White House released a memo Friday saying it “strongly supports” the plan and that President Donald Trump’s senior advisors would recommend he sign it into law if it passes Congress.

Read the full article at the Associates Press

Trump Administration says it supports Rep. Golden’s proposal to delay right whale regulation

May 5, 2026 — The Trump Administration said it supports a proposal by Democratic Maine Congressman Jared Golden to push back new federal protections for North Atlantic Right Whales to 2035.

A moratorium on new federal rules around right whales is already in place until 2028 due to concerns from lobsterman who say certain regulations for the endangered species would cripple the fishing industry.

A Monday memo from the President said Golden’s bill would also extend the requirements for the National Marine Fisheries Service to promote the innovation and adoption of gear technologies in the American lobster and Jonah crab fisheries.

“The need to protect Maine’s iconic lobster industry knows no party. I’m grateful for the President’s support for Maine’s lobstermen and hopeful that my colleagues in the House will join me in quickly passing this bill into law,” Golden said in a statement.

The North Atlantic Right Whale population currently sits at around 380 individuals, according to the New England Aquarium.

Read the full article at nhpr