“A newborn calf spends most of the first few months of its life on the surface with its mother,” said Erica Fuller, senior attorney at Conservation Law Foundation. “Given that these whales are tough to see under the best of circumstances, slowing boats down is the only way to prevent collisions like those that have killed whales, injured people, and caused major vessel damage in the past.”
“This downward spiral must be stopped,” said Erica Fuller, Senior Attorney at CLF. “It’s time to put meaningful protections in place so whales are no longer needlessly killed by boats and fishing gear. The federal government needs to step up and do what’s right. Critically endangered right whales can recover, we just need to give them a chance.”
“Given the glacial pace of new right whale protections over the last decade, immediately curtailing the second biggest threat to their existence would be a game-changer,” said Erica Fuller, senior attorney at Conservation Law Foundation. “This proposed rule is a major step forward, but there’s a five-month gap in protection south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket that should be addressed. Federal officials must now get these protections in place on the water as quickly as possible and effectively enforce them.”
“At this juncture, the fact NMFS hasn’t already addressed deaths due to vessel collisions is beyond incomprehensible,” said Erica Fuller, a senior attorney at Conservation Law Foundation. “We hope this will force the agency to take emergency action rather than wait until next spring to start a new rule-making process. That kind of delay does little to protect the moms traveling up and down the coast now.”
Right whale names open a unique window into a whale’s life, describing unique physical features and telling the story of the experiences that they have overcome.
But who’s behind naming the whales? Or why do they bother naming them? Here’s the how, the why, and much more.
Regulators have known for more than 20 years that vessel strikes kill right whales at an alarming rate. But to date, they haven’t put forward a real solution.
“Roughly half of all right whale deaths are because they are run over and killed by speeding boats, and this unprecedented delay is only making matters worse,” said Erica Fuller, a senior attorney at Conservation Law Foundation. “It shouldn’t take a lawsuit to force regulators to make the common-sense decision to reduce vessel speeds in areas where right whales are present. The new administration must act quickly and avoid repeating the same mistakes of the Trump years.”
This summer, 10 right whales died, including Wolverine, the great-grandson of famous right whale matriarch Kleenex. Each whale death this year means families lost mothers, fathers, siblings, and grandchildren — a family tree that’s losing branches. Calving mothers like Kleenex are crucial to the right whales’ survival.
Seven new North Atlantic right whale calves are migrating with their mothers and other whales back up the east cost into New England and Canadian waters. But this journey is full of threats: ship strikes, noise pollution, and entanglement in fishing gear all threaten their survival. We must work to make our oceans a safe and welcoming place for right whales.
