November 27, 2024 — The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (SAFMC) has approved the use of ropeless fishing gear, also known as on-demand gear, in its black sea bass fishery, which spans the U.S. coastline from the state of North Carolina to Florida.
The new gear aims to reduce instances of right whale entanglements. The North Atlantic right whale is one of the most critically endangered species in the world, with an estimated 372 individuals remaining.
November 19, 2024 — One marine conservation expert has questions about the efforts on the part of Fisheries and Oceans after North Atlantic right whales were detected in the Bay of Fundy in recent weeks, including in an area where both Canadian and American fishermen catch lobster.
In October, Fisheries and Oceans announced several temporary prohibited fishing areas as the whales were detected in multiple fishing spots across the Maritimes, including in the bay.
When a North Atlantic right whale is detected in areas subject to management measures, fishing using non-tended fixed gear, traps and pots are prohibited around the area for 15 days. In the Bay of Fundy, if a right whale is detected again during days nine to 15 of a prohibited fishing period, the prohibition is extended.
Some fishing prohibitions for parts of the Bay of Fundy started on Oct. 25 and included the fisheries for crab, herring, mackerel, groundfish, hagfish and lobster.
November 8, 2024 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
Today, NOAA Fisheries issued a final Biological Opinion on the SouthCoast offshore wind energy project to the federal action agencies including Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). Pursuant to the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the Biological Opinion considers the effects on threatened and endangered species of the construction, operation, and eventual decommissioning of the project off the coast of Massachusetts.
NOAA Fisheries concluded the proposed action is likely to adversely affect, but is not likely to jeopardize, the continued existence of any species of ESA-listed whales, sea turtles, or fish. It is not anticipated to adversely affect any designated critical habitat. NOAA Fisheries does not anticipate serious injuries to or mortalities of any ESA-listed whale including the North Atlantic right whale.
The proposed project includes a number of measures designed to minimize, monitor, and report effects to ESA-listed species. Additional measures are included through the Biological Opinion’s Incidental Take Statement. With the incorporation of the proposed mitigation measures, all effects to North Atlantic right whales will be limited to behavioral disturbance that constitutes “harassment” under the ESA, but not “harm.”
NOAA Fisheries’ Office of Protected Resources is also proposing to issue incidental take regulations pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which we evaluated in the Biological Opinion. A number of other federal permits and authorizations associated with the SouthCoast project are proposed and were analyzed in the Biological Opinion.
NOAA Fisheries will continue working closely with BOEM and other federal agencies to ensure the effects from the SouthCoast offshore energy project to NOAA Fisheries’ trust resources are minimized and monitored.
The Biological Opinion will be available online upon publication in our libraryin approximately 10 days.
November 5, 2024 — Dominion Energy has halted some construction on its massive offshore wind project off the coast of Virginia to allow endangered whales to migrate through the area in the winter.
The 176-turbine project will be the largest offshore wind farm in U.S. waters if completed on schedule in 2026, at a cost of nearly $10 billion. So far, Dominion Energy has installed 78 steel turbine foundations and four offshore substation foundations in its federal lease area, which is located 27 miles off the Virginia coast.
The Richmond utility has paused further foundation installation — which requires hammering steel structures into the seafloor — until May 1 to allow endangered North Atlantic right whales to migrate through the area with less noise disturbance.
October 29, 2024 — A Massachusetts tribe is backing a Supreme Court petition seeking more federal review of how planned offshore wind projects along the Eastern Seaboard are affecting the endangered North Atlantic right whale.
The Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) said in a friend of the court, or amicus, brief last week that protection of the whale is “fundamental” to its cultural heritage and protected resources.
But the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management never consulted with the tribe — or other affected tribes — about the cumulative effects of the planned development of a few dozen projects along the East Coast, starting with Vineyard Wind 1, the Wampanoag tribe told the Supreme Court in a brief Friday.
October 25, 2024 — A new report shows that the endangered North Atlantic right whale species may be making a comeback. However, scientist say there is still much more to be done.
The right whale population is making a slight rebound. According to the latest report from NOAA, the current population is estimated at 372, which is an increase from last year’s data of 360 whales.
“It’s not necessarily a sign of complete celebration and everything is well and this population is fully recovered, there’s still threats that this species is unfortunately facing,” said Oceans Campaigner for the Center for Biological Diversity, Ben Grundy.
October 22, 2024 — One of the rarest species of whale in the world has increased slightly in population, encouraging conservationists to call on the federal government and the shipping and fishing industries to do more to bring the giant animals back from the brink of extinction.
The North Atlantic right whale, which can weigh up to 150,000 pounds (68,039 kilograms) and lives off the East Coast, plummeted in population in the 2010s. The critically endangered whales, which are stressed by global warming and vulnerable to ship collisions and entanglement in fishing gear, fell to fewer than 360 individuals by the early 2020s.
A group of researchers that studies the whales said Tuesday that the population increased to an estimated 372 in 2023. That’s an increase of about 4% from 2020, and “heartening news” after the whale’s population fell by about 25% from 2010 to 2020, researchers said in a statement.
October 21, 2024 — It was a blessedly calm day as Scott Landry’s team set out in their inflatable boat to scan the glistening waters of Great South Channel between Rhode Island and Massachusetts for an endangered whale affectionately known as Wart. They were on a mission to save her life.
The group, from the nonprofit Center for Coastal Studies located in nearby Provincetown, had spent the better part of three years monitoring Wart after an aerial team spotted the North Atlantic right whale with a large piece of rope lodged in her mouth.
Instead of coming loose on its own, the fishing rope slowly tangled itself deeper into Wart’s baleens, hindering her ability to eat and reproduce. Finally, Landry’s team decided to take a more hands-on approach—a dangerous but necessary last resort.
“The first thing that people need to realize is that the animals do not know that we’re trying to help them out,” said Landry, the director of the center’s Marine Animal Entanglement Response Program. “These are just wild animals that we are approaching at a moment in their life that is quite horrible.”
October 4, 2024 — NOAA investigators have for the first time confirmed a link between the death of a critically endangered North Atlantic right whale and the Maine lobster industry.
The whale, right whale #5120, was found dead off the coast of Massachusetts in January 2024, and a necropsy in February found it was entangled in gear with markings that NOAA said were consistent with rope used in Maine state water trap/pot buoy lines used for lobster fishing.
October 3, 2024 — Federal investigators said Maine fishing gear is to blame for the death of an endangered right whale.
Maine lobstermen said they’re sad to hear about the whale’s death, but they also fear new regulations will endanger their livelihoods. The female right whale was found dead near Martha’s Vineyard in January.
This death and investigation come as new lobster fishing regulations are up for debate.
One lobsterman said fishing without using a rope isn’t that simple and it would cost significantly more.
“It’s been an ongoing battle for a number of years. We have taken and modified our gear over the years to reduce the amount of rope that we use in the water, so the industry has done a lot that it’s been asked of,” John Drouin, a lobsterman, said.