Saving Seafood

Biden administration withdraws rules to save endangered whales from collisions

January 15, 2025 — The federal government is withdrawing a proposal that would require more ships to slow down in East Coast waters to try to save a vanishing species of whale, officials said Wednesday.

The move in the waning days of the Biden administration will leave the endangered North Atlantic right whale vulnerable to extinction as the Trump administration is signaling a shift from environmental conservation to support for marine industries, conservation groups said. But federal authorities said there’s no way to implement the rules before President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Monday.

The new vessel speed rules proposed by the National Marine Fisheries Service more than two years ago have been the topic of much debate among shippers, commercial fishermen and wildlife conservationists, who all have a stake in the whale’s fate. The whale, which is vulnerable to collisions with ships, numbers less than 380 and its population has plummeted in recent years.

Read the full article at the Associated Press

Supreme Court Declines To Hear Challenge Of Vineyard Wind

January 13, 2025 — The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear the challenge of Vineyard Wind brought by the Nantucket-based nonprofit ACK For Whales, effectively ending the group’s legal effort to stop or delay the wind farm under construction southwest of the island.

The effort to bring its case to the nation’s highest court was a long shot – as the U.S. Supreme Court accepts only 2 percent of the 7,000 cases brought to it each year – and on Monday the court informed ACK For Whales that it had declined to hear its petition for certiorari.

ACK For Whales had alleged that the federal agencies that permitted the Vineyard Wind project violated the Endangered Species Act by concluding that the project’s construction likely would not jeopardize the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale. The group also asserted that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management had violated the National Environmental Policy Act by relying on a “flawed analysis” from the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Two lower courts had previously dismissed the case, and the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on Monday brings ACK For Whales’ legal challenge of the Vineyard Wind project to an end.

Read the full article at the Nantucket Current

Right whales returned in higher numbers to eastern Gulf of Maine this year

January 2, 2024 — For the first time in more than a decade, North Atlantic right whales returned in larger numbers this year to the eastern Gulf of Maine. Scientists believe their return may be due to colder deep water temperatures in the Gulf of Maine this past Spring.

Scientists collected the data from buoys placed in the Gulf of Maine, and observed that deep water temperatures were noticeably colder than in recent years.

Read the full article at Maine Public

Endangered whales found entangled in rope off Massachusetts

December 19, 2024 — Two endangered whales have been spotted entangled in fishing gear off Massachusetts, and one is likely to die from its injuries, the federal government said.

They are North Atlantic right whales, which number less than 400 and face existential threats from entanglement in gear and collisions with ships. An aerial survey found the whales swimming about 50 miles southeast of Nantucket on Dec. 9, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.

One of the whales is a juvenile that has a thick line that passes across its head and back and is likely to succumb to the injury, the agency said in a statement. The other whale is an adult female who biologists think has suffered a sublethal injury from the entanglement, NOAA said.

Read the full article at the Associated Press

South Atlantic black sea bass fishery approves ropeless gear intended to protect right whales

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.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Lack of fishing prohibitions in ‘grey zone’ could pose risk for right whales, expert says

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.

Read the full article at CBC News

NOAA Fisheries Issuing Final Biological Opinion on the SouthCoast Wind Energy Project Offshore of Massachusetts

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. 

VIRGINIA: Dominion pauses offshore turbine installation for whale migration

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.

Read the full article at E&E News

Tribe urges Supreme Court to review offshore wind’s impact on whales

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.

Read the full article at E&E News

New report shows increase in North Atlantic right whale population

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.

Read the full article at Fox 22