Feds Hoping To Extend Whale Protection Rules

OCEAN CITY -- The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) this week announced a proposal to make permanent rules the agency implemented five years ago to protect highly endangered right whales that migrate through and birth young in the waters off the mid-Atlantic coast.

On Wednesday, NMFS officials announced the 60-day public comment period is now open on the agency’s proposal to permanently implement rules the agency adopted five years ago to reduce the number of collisions by ocean-going vessels and North Atlantic right whales in certain seasonal management areas along the east coast from Maine to Florida including vast sections off the mid-Atlantic coast. The Seasonal Management Areas include vast sections of ocean at the mouths of both the Chesapeake Bay and the Delaware Bay, which overlap in areas well off the coast of Ocean City and Assateague.

Right whales are among the most endangered species in the world and are highly vulnerable to ship collisions. As part of NMFS’ long-standing efforts to recover the right whale population, rules were put in place five years ago to reduce an ocean-going vessel’s speed to 10 knots or less during certain times of the year and in certain designated locations called seasonal management areas, some of which are located off the mid-Atlantic coast. However, the rules are set to expire on December 31, 2013, and NMFS officials are now seeking to make them permanent.
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