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Feds look at expanding habitat for world’s most endangered whales

July 13, 2022 — North Pacific right whales, the most endangered whales in the world, could gain an expanded protected habitat from Alaska to Baja California, if the feds approve after a one-year review now underway.

On Monday, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries announced the review, a response to a petition filed this past March by the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity and conservation group Save the North Pacific Right Whale — dedicated to increasing protections and awareness of the rare whale. They urged the federal government to revise the critical habitat designation for North Pacific right whales under the Endangered Species Act.

In 2008, the Fisheries Service issued a final rule designating about 1,175 square miles in the Gulf of Alaska and 35,460 square miles in the Southeast Bering Sea as critical habitat for North Pacific right whales. But the environmentalists say two key habitats are essential for this right whale population’s survival — a migratory corridor through the Fox Islands in the Aleutian chain, including Unimak Pass, and feeding grounds near Kodiak Island.

In their petition, the groups argued the government should connect the existing critical habitats by extending the Bering Sea unit boundary westward and southward to the Fox Islands, through Unimak Pass to the edge of the continental slope, and eastward to the Kodiak Island. This change would encompass a key migratory point for whales and connect their foraging grounds, the organizations said.

Alice Kaswan, professor and associate dean at University of San Francisco School of Law, said while this announcement does not mean the agency will agree with the petition’s demands, it does indicate “the door’s open” for similar petitions.

“The agency’s willingness to grant the petition shows it’s open to conducting the additional science to determine whether the additional land or ocean really should be set aside as critical habitat,” Kaswan said. “It’s an indication that this administration has a willingness to protect endangered species.”

Read the full story at Courthouse News Service

Protections sought for world’s most endangered whale

March 15, 2022 — A formal petition has been filed by conservationists to expand federal protection for North Pacific right whales. With only 30 individuals left, this makes the right whale the most endangered whale in existence.

Advocates say the petition, which calls to protect the whale’s migratory areas, will give them a fighting chance for survival.

Threats to the species continue to grow as shipping traffic skyrockets through Alaska, which is only expected to continue. In a press release issued by the Center for Biological Diversity, the group says that surging trans-Arctic shipping traffic is one of the many threats to right whale habitat, including climate change and melting sea ice that is expected to open shipping routes and increase the risk of vessel strikes.

Read the full story at Alaska’s News Source

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