The US National Marine Fisheries Service has withdrawn a proposed rule that would have expanded protections for North Atlantic right whales from deadly vessel strikes.
In 2024 alone, four right whales, including two females and two dependent calves, died as the result of vessel strikes in US waters.
According to a government notice published today:
“NMFS withdraws this proposed rule in light of numerous and ongoing requests from the public for further opportunity to review and engage with the Agency on the proposal. NMFS’s existing vessel speed regulations remain in effect.”
The rule’s withdrawal has been met with vociferous criticism from whale advocates.
Oceana Campaign Director Gib Brogan decried the move as “bureaucracy at its finest”:
“While we waited over two years for a decision on the vessel strike reduction rule, our East Coast has become a graveyard for North Atlantic right whales. North Atlantic right whales don’t belong on our beaches, and they don’t deserve to die because of political incompetence and a blatant disregard for science-backed solutions. We hate to state the obvious but, we need a solution, and we need it now. It’s our sincere hope that the new administration does not want the first large whale to go extinct in centuries in U.S. waters because of federal red tape. The Trump administration must find a solution that keeps fisheries on the water, sustains the marine economy, and supports the recovery of the North Atlantic right whale.”
Erica Fuller, Senior Counsel at the Conservation Law Foundation, said:
“The gross inaction and delays by this administration over the past four years to release this rule is inexcusable. We exhausted every avenue available to us to move this forward as the right whale body count from vessel strikes continued to grow.”
While Regina Asmutis-Silvia, executive director of Whale and Dolphin Conservation, added:
“Accidental entanglements in fishing gear and vessel strikes are listed as the primary threats to North Atlantic right whales, but their actual greatest threat is political inaction and that is what will drive them to extinction.”
Jane Davenport, senior attorney at the Defenders of Wildlife, said:
“NOAA Fisheries has kept the right whale waiting for improved vessel strike protections for years. In attempting to make everyone happy, the agency turned years of delay into an outright denial of the needs of a critically endangered species. The agency has a mandate to protect the right whale, but ran out the clock, leaving the whale with an out-of-date rule that we know is not enough.”
And Kristen Monsell, oceans legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said:
“This is a tragic day for endangered right whales, who desperately need our help. I’m outraged that the federal government’s years of foot-dragging led to this outcome, which isn’t based on science or evidence but on cowardice and politics. The agency’s inaction means that more right whales will suffer and die. The survival of these whales as a species depends on more protections from deadly ship strikes and deadly entanglements in fishing gear. If we don’t curb these man-made threats, these beautiful animals will vanish forever.”
