Saving Seafood

Whale Week 2020: NOAA Saves Whales with Science

February 11, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Whales, dolphins, and porpoises belong to a group of marine mammals called cetaceans. NOAA Fisheries works to ensure the conservation of all cetaceans, which are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Some populations, such as the Cook Inlet beluga, North Atlantic right whale, and Southern Resident killer whale have been identified as Species in the Spotlight due to their endangered status and declining populations. We work with many partners to protect and recover species listed under the Endangered Species Act.

Join us as we celebrate Whale Week, February 10–16, 2020, leading up to World Whale Day on February 16, 2020. Check out the latest whale-related news and videos below and stay tuned for more new content throughout the week!

Read the full release here

Extension: Voluntary Vessel Speed Restrictions South of Nantucket to Protect Right Whales

February 10, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries announces an extension to the voluntary vessel speed restriction zone (Dynamic Management Area or DMA) south of Nantucket.

On February 9, an aggregation of right whales was observed 31 nautical miles south of Nantucket, Massachusetts.

Mariners are requested to continue route around this area or transit through it at 10 knots or less.

South of Nantucket DMA effective through February 24

41 11 N
40 22 N
069 32 W
070 37 W

Active Seasonal Management Areas (SMAs)

A mandatory speed restriction of 10 knots or less (50 CFR 224.105) is in effect in the Mid-Atlantic November 1 – April 30, and in Cape Cod Bay January 1 – May 15.

More info on Seasonal Management Areas

Right Whales Are Migrating 

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 also 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 Info

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

Send a blank message to receive a return email listing all current U.S. DMAs and SMAs.

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

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

Read the full release here

Maine Congressional Delegation Asks Feds To Shift Focus Of Right Whale Protections

February 7, 2020 — Maine’s congressional delegation is trying to up the pressure on federal fisheries regulators to look beyond the state’s lobster industry when seeking to reduce threats to the endangered North Atlantic right whale.

In a letter to top officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) this week, the delegation calls on the agency to provide more information about reducing the risk of ship strikes off the United States and Canada – strikes that they say are as much a threat to the whales’ survival as entanglement with lobster fishing gear.

Maine 2nd District Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat, notes that just last month, a newborn right whale calf was sighted off Florida with an apparent ship-strike injury. He says Maine’s lobster industry is being asked to bear too much of the burden and is at a disadvantage compared to powerful shipping and conservation organizations.

Read the full story at Maine Public

3 more right whale calves spotted

February 6, 2020 — Three more right whale calves have been spotted off the coasts of Georgia and Florida, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service.

A 28-year-old mother named Calvin was spotted swimming off Georgia with her calf, the statement says. In 2000, Calvin was found entangled off the coast of Cape Cod and was disentangled by the Center for Coastal Studies Marine Animal Entanglement Response Team.

A 24-year-old mother named Echo was seen with her calf off Atlantic Beach in Florida, and an 18-year-old mom called Arrow was spotted with her calf off Amelia Island in Florida.

These sightings bring the total number of right whale calves this season to nine, up from seven seen all of last year, according to a statement from the Center for Coastal Studies.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

NOAA holds off on whale rules

February 5, 2020 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service will hold off on announcing new rules aimed at protecting North Atlantic right whales from entanglement with fishing gear, including Maine lobster fishing gear, until at least July.

The agency, also known as the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), had been expected to release proposed rules by late last fall or possibly in January. But in a filing with the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., last week, Jenifer Anderson, an assistant regional administrator at the NFMS Greater Atlantic Regional Office in Gloucester, Mass., said the delay was the result of fisheries managers from Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts submitting proposed state-specific lobster fishing rules to the agency for review later than expected.

According to Anderson, NMFS anticipated receiving proposals from the states last fall, but the Maine Department of Marine Resources didn’t file its proposals until Jan. 3. Those proposals differed, she said, from proposals the state tentatively agreed to last April at a meeting of the agency’s Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team. According to Anderson, Massachusetts and New Hampshire were expected to file their plans “on or about” Feb. 1.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

Marina firm develops tech that could help whale entanglement

February 4, 2020 — On the heels of a new report indicating whale entanglements from buoyed ropes from crab traps could worsen in Monterey Bay, a Marina company has a technology that can eliminate the need for any entangling lines.

A study released last week by a researcher from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration indicates that conditions that have caused a marked increase in humpback whale entanglements are likely to get worse because of climate change.

The reasons can be complicated but essentially humpbacks are being pushed toward crab lines in search of food that isn’t available in their normal feeding areas.

Traditional crab traps lie on the ocean floor and are connected to identifiable buoys with roping. When a whale swims under the buoy it can get caught up in that roping and suffer severe trauma such as deep cuts.

Read the full story at the Monterey Herald

RHODE ISLAND: Commercial Fishermen Endorse Partial Balloon Ban

February 3, 2020 — Commercial fishermen aren’t happy with the amount of balloons they constantly find floating in the ocean and, thus, support a bill that places restrictions on their use.

House bill H7216 doesn’t ban or prohibit the use of balloons but forbids the intentional release of balloons containing helium.

At a Jan. 28 hearing of the House Judiciary Committee, commercial fisherman Norbert Stamps gave emotional testimony recounting the endless presence of balloon and balloon strings floating at sea between Canada and Virginia.

“This is not some bullshit pollution legislation,” Stamps said. “This is the biggest piece of plastic commercial fishermen in New England see in our ocean and New England coast.”

Balloons, he said, are the most common waste fishermen encounter, most often as a bunch of balloons that have been released from weddings, graduations, and other events.

Balloons threaten filter feeders such as endangered North Atlantic right whales, Stamps noted. A 2019 study out of Australia found that soft plastics such as balloons accounted for only 5 percent of the items ingested by seabirds but are responsible for 42 percent of seabird deaths. Balloons floating in water also resemble jellyfish and are often consumed by seals and turtles.

Read the full story at EcoRI

Lawsuit Launched to Save Alaska’s Cook Inlet Beluga Whales From Harmful Oil Exploration

February 3, 2020 — Conservation groups Friday threatened to sue the Trump administration for approving oil exploration in Alaska’s Cook Inlet after new federal data found a dramatic decline in the area’s population of endangered beluga whales.

The formal notice of intent to file an Endangered Species Act lawsuit asks the National Marine Fisheries Service to revoke its authorization of oil and gas activities in the area until a new legally required consultation is completed.

The administration relied on higher beluga whale numbers when, in 2019, it approved rules allowing Hilcorp Alaska LLC to harm belugas and other marine mammals as it expands offshore oil and gas operations in Cook Inlet. But on Tuesday the Fisheries Service announced the population of whales was estimated at 279, a significantly smaller and more quickly declining population than the agency had thought.

“Since we pressed for listing the Cook Inlet Beluga whale as endangered in 2008, the drive for corporate profits and complacent government bureaucrats have conspired to stifle progress for this dwindling stock,” said Bob Shavelson, advocacy director for Cook Inletkeeper. “Hilcorp should do the right thing and abandon its plans for new drilling in Cook Inlet.”

Read the full story at the Alaska Native News

New Rules to Protect Endangered Right Whales Face Delays

January 30, 2020 — A federal government plan to protect an endangered species of whale is snarled in delays and won’t likely be available for public comment until the summer, court papers state.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is working with state governments on the plan to protect the North Atlantic right whale, which only numbers about 400. The plan is expected to restrict commercial fishing activities off New England to try to prevent the whales from becoming entangled in fishing gear.

Jennifer Anderson, an assistant regional administration for protected resources in a NOAA regional office, wrote Tuesday that “unfortunately, the state measures have taken more time to be developed than we expected.” The agency expects to publish a proposed rule in the Federal Register in July, she wrote.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at U.S. News

Offshore Wind to Fund New Study of Right Whales

January 28, 2020 — Ørsted is funding a project to study and protect endangered North Atlantic right whale during surveys, construction, and operation of its U.S. offshore wind facilities such as Bay State Wind and Revolution Wind.

Using data collected from an aerial, unmanned glider and two sound-detection buoys, researchers from the University of Rhode Island, Rutgers University, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution will examine the habitat and behaviors of right whales in the wind-lease areas awarded to Ørsted.

An estimated 400 North Atlantic right whales remain, fewer than 100 are breeding females.

The oceanographic data will help studies of additional fish species and improve forecasting for severe storms and other weather, according to Ørsted. The three-year initiative is called Ecosystem and Passive Acoustic Monitoring (ECO-PAM).

Read the full story at EcoRI