Speed Limit Petition for Endangered Rice’s Whales Denied by NOAA

Speed Limit Petition for Endangered Rice’s Whales Denied by NOAA

https://www.**************/2023/11/speed-limit-petition-for-endangered-rices-whales-denied-by-noaa/

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) denied a petition that aimed to implement a speed limit and other vessel-related mitigation measures to protect endangered Rice’s whales.
A petition to establish a 10-knot speed limit and other vessel related mitigation measures to protect endangered Rice’s whales in the Gulf of Mexico was denied by NOAA Fisheries. The petition was submitted by several non-government organizations.

NOAA concluded that a finalization of the critical habitat designation, a draft of a species recovery plan, and quantitative vessel risk assessment were all needed before vessel regulations could be considered.

NOAA estimates there are likely fewer than 100 individual Rice’s whales left in the wild. They plan to develop a recovery plan for the species, which allows NOAA to better understand species’ needs. Rice’s whales are currently protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act.

Approximately 75,500 public comments were received by NOAA fisheries from April 7 to July 6, 2023, after NOAA opened the petition to public comments. Some of the agencies that supported the petition later commented on the ruling, including Healthy Gulf Coastal Organizer Christian Wagley.

“We’re incredibly disappointed in NOAA’s decision to further delay desperately-needed measures to protect the Rice’s whale. Without immediate action we could end up seeing the first extinction of a great whale species,” Wagley said.

Other organizations, like The National Marine Manufacturers Association, support the decision made by NOAA.......