14 DAY TRIAL // According to a new decision by authorities in the United States, a series of speed restrictions will be imposed for the water along the Eastern Seaboard, so that inbound or outbound ships could avoid striking endangered right whales, and accidentally killing them.
These restrictions will however be only seasonal for now, say investigators at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), who add that the measures are meant to protect newborn calf from being killed.
Right whales are currently listed as endangered, and the task of protecting them therefore falls under federal jurisdiction. NOAA took the new measures after pressure from environmental groups.
Under the new rules, all ships exceeding 65 feet (20 meters) in length will have to sail at 10 knots or less through critical regions of the East Coast, so as to minimize any chance that the large animals will not hear the incoming vessels and swim out of the way.
“These speed restrictions are in place when we know right whales are in certain areas, where they are vulnerable to being hit by ships,” explains the NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator, Eric Schwaab.
“We implement speed restrictions every year, based on what our scientists know about the locations and times of year that right whales are calving, feeding and migrating,” the official adds.
The reason why such drastic measures are taken every year is that right whales are among the most endangered whale species still in existence today. Estimates place their number at between 300 and 400 individuals.
When you have a population this small, it stands to reason that the loss of even a calf can be a fatal blow, especially when you think of it in terms of losing genetic diversity from the gene pool.
One of the reason right whales need protection is because they like to spend a lot of time on the surface, and in areas alongside the coastlines. This means that impacts by ship take place often.
“Ship speed restriction rules are part of NOAA’s broader effort to help the right whale population recover by protecting their habitat,” a statement from the agency reads.
“NOAA efforts include surveying whale habitat by aircraft, mandatory ship reporting systems that provide advisories and information on right whale locations to mariners, [and] modified shipping lanes into Boston,” the document adds.
In addition, the Administration is also “recommending shipping routes into other coastal areas to prevent collisions, and [providing] regulations to prevent entanglement in fishing gear.”