Saving Seafood

New ‘slow zone’ to protect rare whales off Massachusetts

August 4, 2021 — The federal government has announced a new voluntary speed restriction zone to try to protect rare whales off the Massachusetts coast.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the new “slow zone” is located southeast of Nantucket and began on Aug. 1. It’s in effect through Aug. 16.

The zone is designed to protect North Atlantic right whales, which number only about 360.

The agency is asking mariners to route around the area entirely or transit through it at 10 knots (11.5 miles per hour) or less.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Gloucester Daily Times

Nonprofit launches “Is your lobster whale-safe?” campaign

August 3, 2021 — Nonprofit organization Mainers Guarding Right Whales has launched a campaign featuring advertisements and a billboard that asks “Is your lobster whale-safe?”

The billboard is located along roadways in the U.S. state of Massachusetts and is targeted at travelers heading into the nearby state of Maine (billboards along roadways are banned in Maine). The billboard, according to the organization, is intended to inform travelers that “lobster dinners at seaside harbors come at a steep price to North Atlantic right whales.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

New Slow Zone Southeast of Nantucket to Protect Right Whales

August 3, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries announces a new voluntary right whale Slow Zone.  On August 1, 2021, our aerial survey team sighted the presence of right whales southeast of Nantucket, MA.  The Slow Zone is in effect immediately through August 16, 2021.  Mariners are requested to route around this area or transit through it at 10 knots or less.

VOLUNTARY Right whale “SLOW Zone”  

Mariners are requested to avoid or transit at 10 knots or less inside the following areas where persistent aggregations of right whales have been detected.  Please visit www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/shipstrike for more information.

Slow Zone Coordinates:

Southeast of Nantucket Island, MA

41 01 N
40 21 N
069 00 W
069 52 W

Give Right Whales Room

North Atlantic right whales are on the move along the Atlantic coast of the U.S. NOAA is cautioning boaters and fishermen to give these endangered whales plenty of room. We are also asking all fishermen to be vigilant when maneuvering to avoid accidental collisions with whales and remove unused gear from the ocean to help avoid entanglements. Commercial fishermen should use vertical lines with required markings, weak links, and breaking strengths.

Right Whales in Trouble

North Atlantic right whales are protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Scientists estimate there are only about 400 remaining, making them one of the rarest marine mammals in the world.

North Atlantic right whales are NOAA Fisheries’ newest Species in the Spotlight. This initiative is a concerted, agency-wide effort to spotlight and save marine species that are among the most at risk of extinction in the near future. 

In August 2017, NOAA Fisheries declared the increase in right whale mortalities an “Unusual Mortality Event,” which helps the agency direct additional scientific and financial resources to investigating, understanding, and reducing the mortalities in partnership with the Marine Mammal Stranding Network, Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and outside experts from the scientific research community.

More Information

Recent right whale sightings

Find out more about our right whale conservation efforts and the researchers behind those efforts.

Download the Whale Alert app for iPad and iPhone

Acoustic detections in Cape Cod Bay and the Boston TSS, as well as other regions along the eastern seaboard.

Details and graphics of all vessel strike management zones currently in effect.

Reminder: Approaching a right whale closer than 500 yards is a violation of federal and state law.

Spread the Word!

All boaters, or interested parties, can sign up for email notifications  and selecting “Right Whale Slow Zones” under the Regional New England/Mid-Atlantic subscription topics. You can also follow us on Facebook (@NOAAFisheriesNEMA) and Twitter (@NOAAFish_GARFO) for announcements.

Watch our video on Right Whale Slow Zones.

Recent Feature Stories about Right Whales

Listening for Right Whales in the Gulf of Maine

Make Way for Right Whales

10 Things You Should Know About Right Whales

Questions?

Media: Contact Allison Ferreira, Regional Office, 978-281-9103

Study Reveals Right Whales Use Area Intended for Wind Energy

August 2, 2021 — Areas off the coast of Massachusetts slated for wind energy projects have also shown to be new areas of import for the endangered Right Wales.

Survey data collected over the last decade shows increased number of whales travelling through the Massachusetts and Rhode Island wind energy areas.

Whales were identified by distinctive markings found in aerial photos.

The study showed about a third of the population making significant use of the area.

Reproductive female use of the area is also of high importance as one of the reasons for the declining numbers that the species has faced is a reduction in calving rates.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

Right Whales Increase Activity in Ocean Waters Slated for Offshore Wind Farms

August 2, 2021 — Critically endangered North Atlantic right whales are increasing their presence in waters south of Martha’s Vineyard, according to a recent study, including large swaths of ocean slated for wind energy development.

Conducted by scientists with NOAA Fisheries, the New England Aquarium and the Center for Coastal Studies using aerial survey data from 2011 through 2019, the study found that 327 unique right whales have been spotted in the waters of southern New England, making the area a crucial habitat for a species teetering on the edge of extinction.

Scientists estimate the North Atlantic right whale population at less than 400 total specimens, including approximately 100 breeding females.

Meanwhile, the study comes just as the country’s first industrial-scale offshore wind farm, Vineyard Wind 1, has cleared federal approvals and is scheduled to go online by 2023, jump-starting a nascent offshore wind energy industry that could lead to the construction of hundreds of underwater wind turbines in the region.

According to Vineyard Wind, the project will include 64 turbines approximately 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard. Additional leaseholders in the area, including Mayflower Wind and a second Vineyard Wind project, would significantly increase turbine counts.

In the study, scientists noted that the presence of right whales has been sighted in the area south of the Vineyard every month in recent years, with large aggregations occurring during the winter and spring.

Between December and May, almost a quarter of the right whale population may be present in the region, and the individual residence time for whales has increased to 13 days during the period, the study states. Visual and acoustic monitoring, from flight surveys and photography, showed consistent use of the wind energy area by a third of the species, including 30 per cent of breeding females.

Read the full story at the Vineyard Gazette

Right Whale Use of Southern New England Wind Energy Areas Increasing

July 30, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Right whales are increasing their use of southern New England waters, including regions slated for offshore wind energy development, according to aerial survey data collected during the last decade. Offshore wind energy installations are proposed in waters off the south coasts of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Understanding and minimizing the potential impacts from construction noise, increased vessel traffic, and habitat alteration will be crucial to protecting and conserving this endangered species. This research supports the Administration’s goal of deploying offshore wind while protecting biodiversity and promoting ocean co-use.

The study was published July 29 in Endangered Species Research. Marine mammal researchers from NOAA Fisheries and colleagues at the New England Aquarium and the Center for Coastal Studies examined aerial survey data collected between 2011–2015 and 2017–2019. The data was collected in offshore waters including the Massachusetts and Rhode Island Wind Energy Area. The data from these two time periods were used to quantify right whale distribution, residency, demographics, and movements in the region.

“We found that right whale use of the region increased during the last decade, and since 2017 whales have been sighted there nearly every month, with large aggregations occurring during the winter and spring,” said Tim Cole, lead of the whale aerial survey team at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center and a co-author of the study.

Read the full release here

Blue ticked off: the controversy over the MSC fish ‘ecolabel’

July 26, 2021 — This month, two right whales in the Gulf of St Lawrence were found entangled in fishing gear. One, a female, was first spotted entangled off Cape Cod last year, but rescuers were not able to fully free her; the other, a male, is believed to have become entangled in the Gulf.

Hunted to near extinction before a partial whaling ban in 1935, North Atlantic right whales are once more critically endangered, with only 356 left. The main threat remains human contact: entanglement in fishing gear, and ship strikes. Fatal encounters, caused in part by the whales’ migratory shift into Canada’s snow crab grounds, have soared: more than a tenth of the population died or were seriously injured between 2017 and 2021, mostly in Canada and New England.

One of the threats they face is from the growing crab and lobster fisheries. The whales migrate from their calving grounds in Florida to feed in Canada – putting them on a collision course with the pots and traps.

“We’re talking millions of lines, placed in the water every year,” says Kate O’Connell, a marine wildlife consultant for the Animal Welfare Institute. “These animals are running the gauntlet – and it’s getting harder and harder for them to survive.”

When a whale gets entangled, ropes from buoys on the surface to the seabed traps can become embedded in its skin, weighing it down and leaving it unable to swim or feed properly, leading to a “really traumatising death”, O’Connell says.

But what makes it even more concerning to conservationists is that some of the fisheries they say threaten the right whale were certified as “sustainable” by the world’s largest fisheries certification programme: the Marine Stewardship Council.

The MSC, which grants the right to use its well-known “blue tick” label on products, has grown from 315 certified fisheries in 2017 to 421, representing 14% of all global fish landings. In the last year its labelled products were worth $12bn (£9.5bn). In the absence of governments looking after our oceans, “the MSC is definitely the best we’ve got” in terms of consumer labels, according to Ruth Westcott of the environmental alliance Sustain.

Read the full story at The Guardian

Poll finds public supports right whale protections, as another study shows ships still ignoring them

July 26, 2021 — A new poll performed by The Pew Charitable Trusts has shown the majority of residents on the U.S. East Coast support additional protections for the highly endangered North Atlantic right whale, even as a new report by Oceana indicates that voluntary ship speed limits intended to protect the whales from vessel strikes are largely ignored.

The Pew poll found that as many as 88 percent of those polled said that it is important that the federal government protect right whales, and more than half – 53 percent – said it is very important. The poll also indicated the those polled prefer fishermen use gear that doesn’t harm whales, and that they want the government to help pay for the gear.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Report finds most ships breaking U.S. right whale speed limits

July 23, 2021 — An analysis of automated ship tracking data shows that nearly 90 percent of vessels transiting mandatory speed zones to protect endangered northern right whales are violating the speed limits, according to a new report.

The highest level of compliance — with about one-third of vessels obeying the 10-knot limit — was documented in the Off Race Point seasonal management area, near Cape Cod, Mass., where NOAA regularly announces speed restrictions to protect migrating whales.

The lowest levels of compliance — with nearly 90 percent of vessels busting the 10-knot limit — was off the coast between Wilmington, N.C., and Brunswick, Ga. That reach includes approaches to the burgeoning ports of Charleston, S.C., and Savannah, Ga., where cargo traffic and container ship sizes are growing.

“If NOAA is serious about its mandate to save North Atlantic right whales from extinction, speed zones must be designated in the areas where whales currently are, and they must be enforced,” said Whitney Webber, campaign director at the environmental group Oceana, which compiled the analysis using Automatic Identification System data from 2017 to 2020. “Until speed zone rules are mandatory and violators held accountable, North Atlantic right whales will continue to die on NOAA’s watch.”

The AIS data comes via Global Fishing Watch, an international nonprofit organization founded by Oceana in partnership with Google and SkyTruth. That database recently yielded another report about foreign squid fishing vessels mounting possible incursions into Argentina’s exclusive economic zone.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Large vessels failing to obey speed limits to protect endangered whales, report finds

July 22, 2021 — Nearly 90 percent of large vessels traveling in some conservation areas along the East Coast violated mandatory speed limits established to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales, according to a new report.

The findings raised questions about the need for stricter enforcement of federal rules to protect right whales, whose numbers have fallen by about 25 percent over the past decade to roughly 360. Vessel strikes and entanglements in fishing gear have been the primary cause of death and serious injuries.

“Vessels are speeding, North Atlantic right whales are dying, and there’s not enough accountability,” said Whitney Webber, a campaign director at Oceana, an advocacy group, which released the report on Wednesday. “Oceana’s analysis shows that speeding vessels are rampant throughout North Atlantic right whales’ migration route, all along the East Coast, and in both mandatory and voluntary speed zones.”

Between 2017 and 2020, the report found that nearly 90 percent of vessels 65 feet or larger failed to reduce their speeds to 10 knots or less in the required speed zones along the coast from Wilmington, N.C., to Brunswick, Ga., near the whales’ calving grounds. Nearly 80 percent of the vessels also failed to comply with speed limits along the coasts of New York and New Jersey, while more than half of large vessels failed to comply near the entrance of Delaware Bay.

Read the full story at The Boston Globe