US: Fisheries rule and new shipping lanes to protect whales

Fishery restrictions implemented to protect critically endangered North Atlantic right whales in the Southeast and new shipping lanes protect whales in the Northeast.

For the first time in US history, shipping lanes have been changed to protect the country’s wildlife. Shipping lanes going into and out of Boston Harbour have been narrowed and shifted northwards in efforts to prevent fatal ship strikes on large whales.

Researchers have advised that moving the lanes will reduce the risk of a ship strike by up to 80 % for most baleen whales and approximately 50% for critically endangered North Atlantic right whales, by taking boats away from an area which the most whales are known to congregate.

This endangered population of right whales is thought to number fewer than 400 individuals.

Historically, thousands of right whales roamed the waters of the eastern seaboard of the United States and Canada. However, over-hunting took its toll and the population has dropped to an alarming level. While protection from hunting was enacted in 1935, other human generated threats continue to pressure this species including those from vessel strikes, entanglements in fishing gear, pollution, habitat degradation as well as the increasing industrial development of our oceans.

The changes to shipping lanes follow on from recent legislation on permanent annual restrictions for gillnet fishing in the South East US, which aims to protect right whale mothers and calves from death due to entanglement.

The new fisheries rule will see a larger area covered by tight restrictions on the use of fixed gillnets during the right whale calving season.

The area covered by the restrictions includes the only known North Atlantic right whale calving grounds, and implementation of the new rule will serve to protect reproducing females and calves.

WDCS was instrumental in obtaining these restrictions, vital to the future of the right whale population, and congratulates the National Marine Fisheries Service for acting to protect these critically vulnerable animals.

Source: WDCS / Reuters