The Biden administration’s efforts to augment protections for endangered whales in the North Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico have angered the offshore drilling and recreation fishing industries, spawning legislation to scale back proposed speed restrictions on boats and nix a possible critical habitat expansion.
Growing threats to the right whales and the Rice’s whales and how to address them have increasingly pitted industry, wildlife conservationists, the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, Republicans, and Democrats against each other.
Everyone agrees protecting the remaining whales is a priority. About 350 or so North Atlantic right whales, including fewer than 70 reproductive females, remain on the planet. Roughly 50 Rice’s whales exist, according to NOAA, making them among the most endangered whales in the world. Figuring out how the majestic mammals can co-exist with more boats, offshore energy production, and other human activities on the water, however, is proving tricky.
“No one wants to be the person that kills the last reproductive female,” said Kathleen Collins, senior marine campaigner for the International Fund for Animal Welfare. “But there does seem to be a lack of wanting to make slight changes to your behaviors to help save them.” Collins’ group has ramped up lobbying on Capitol Hill in support of a proposed rule that NOAA expects to finalize at the end of the year.
The rule would expand to vessels between 35 and 65 feet a current seasonal speed restriction of up to 10 knots in designated areas from Maine to Florida. That speed restriction now applies to vessels 65 feet and larger to prevent injuring and killing right whales. Ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear are the greatest threats to the species, which tend to rest near the surface of the ocean and can be difficult to see, especially at night, because their dark color blends with the water and they lack a dorsal fin.
NOAA announced in late October that it wouldn’t pursue expanded speed restrictions for smaller vessels in the Gulf of Mexico after environmental groups had filed a petition to the agency to impose the same protections for the Rice’s whale. “We denied the petition because we are prioritizing other conservation actions for Rice’s whales: finalizing critical habitat for the species, conducting additional vessel risk assessments, and developing a recovery plan for the species,” said Katie Wagner, a spokesperson for NOAA Fisheries.
The speed restriction rule for vessels 65 feet and larger went into effect in 2008. Vessels shorter than 65 feet accounted for five of the 14 documented deadly strikes to North Atlantic right whales since the government put in place the speed rule, NOAA said. Vessels struck three calves in US waters during the past four years, NOAA Fisheries’ data also showed.
“When we only have 70 reproductive females, every vessel strike is a catastrophic blow to the population,” said Collins.
Industry groups including the American Sportfishing Association and the American Pilots’ Association said NOAA didn’t meaningfully consult with them before proposing the rule, despite the groups working with the agency over the years to prevent whale deaths because of boat strikes.
Economic, Safety Concerns
Mandating the speed restrictions for smaller vessels will have “huge economic impacts across the entire Atlantic coast,” said Mike Leonard, vice president of government affairs at the American Sportfishing Association. He said his group wants to work with NOAA to put in place more whale sensing technology aboard vessels and avoid imposing a “blanket restriction” related to speed limits across the board for smaller boats.
The proposed rule also threatens the personal safety of boat pilots and their crews, said Clay Diamond, executive director and general counsel for the APA. Pilot boats need to be able to increase speed above 10 knots in certain areas offshore to ensure smoother transfers between vessels and navigational safety, Diamond said. A clause in the current regulation allows pilots to increase speed over 10 knots in restricted areas in emergencies and to protect life, but the proposed rule would modify that as well, in a way Diamond said hamstrings pilots’ flexibilities.
Beyond safety concerns, Diamond said maritime activities will simply take longer if NOAA’s speed restrictions expand to cover smaller vessels. “This impact on the maritime supply chain is going to be real, and it’s going to be pronounced,” he said.
Oil, Gas Production
The House expects to vote soon on a spending measure (
The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf on equipment operated by
Oil Lease Impact on Rare Whales Unclear, Industry Argues
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“This doesn’t have anything to do with the whale,” said Graves, citing the administration’s own denial of the petition to restrict speeds for smaller vessels in the Gulf. “It has to do with another tool in the tool chest to actually stop energy production in the Gulf of Mexico.” He said he was “struggling with how is it that that 11 million acres can only be adversely impacted from boats that are associated with oil and gas production but not impacted by other boat traffic?”
Cassidy said the agency’s justification for expanding the critical habitat of the Rice’s whale is based on “one confirmed” sighting of the species outside that core region. “And that’s being used to create a ban from Florida to Texas through which, in an uneconomical way, vessels required to develop Outer Continental Shelf oil can only go at 10 miles per hour,” he said during an October Energy and Natural Resources hearing.
Janet Coit, NOAA Fisheries assistant administrator, told the committee the agency believed it “saw a bunch” of Rice’s whales in the western Gulf this last summer and “acoustic monitoring” showed the Rice’s whale outside of its typical eastern Gulf habitat. “We are confident from the latest and best available science that they are in the western Gulf,” she said.
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Oil Lease Impact on Rare Whales Unclear, Industry Argues
Bipartisan Efforts to Delay Rules
But some Democrats are concerned the administration’s proposals are too broad and will stifle fishing and other economic activity without actually protecting the whales.
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A federal appeals court on Tuesday ruled that the administration must hold the oil and gas lease sale within 37 days across the originally intended 73 million acres.
Lease Sale 261 Will Occur Without Added Whale Protections
The Energy and Natural Resources chairman also is sponsoring legislation with Arkansas Republican