Vol. 1, No. 2
Headline Back Issues
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Right whale renaissance Secretary MA Office of Environmental Affairs It is time to get serious about protecting the northern right whale -- one of the world's most endangered whale species. While experts estimate that as many as 80,000 may have once populated the ocean, only about 300 exist today. The northern right whale swims the waters off the coast of North America, from Florida to Newfoundland, spending about half of each year in the Gulf of Maine -- mostly in Massachusetts waters. As a convener of US and Canadian efforts on behalf of a sustainable marine environment, the Gulf of Maine Council has a deep interest in nurturing the recovery of this Gulf resident's population. Despite its hardy appearance -- an adult whale measures up to 50 feet (15 meters) long and can weigh as much as 70 tons (63.5 tonnes) -- the right whale's existence has, for years, been a fragile one. Intensive hunting from the mid-sixteenth to mid-eighteenth centuries, combined with the right whale's low reproductive rates, has brought the species close to extinction -- and its numbers have not recovered, despite international protective regulations in place since 1935. In recent months, much attention has been directed at a current-day suspected risk to these whales: fishing gear. State and federal regulations now require that only whale-safe gear be allowed in right whale habitats to prevent entanglement of whales. But researchers say all the fishing nets and lobster lines combined pose less of a lethal threat to right whales than the bows of cruising supertankers, the propellers of freighters, or the hulls of passing cargo barges. Critical northern right whale habitat, the Great South Channel, is also a major international shipping lane where right whales often do not fare well. The only effective way to lessen these threats to the whales is to reevaluate ship safety and marine environmental protection rules in North American waters. Expanding the scope of protective measures now used in Cape Cod Bay could prevent whale mortalities outside Massachusetts waters. Our federal agencies should develop proposals to increase shipping industry awareness of northern right whales in North America and to continue to develop effective means of tracking and communicating the whales' whereabouts. Officials tell me that the process of drafting such proposals can take more than a year. But this case is special. We need to cut through the red tape and demand action as soon as possible. The Gulf of Maine Council's role is to work in partnership with shipping and fishing operations as well as with researchers, environmentalists, and regulators to identify ways in which marine industries can coexist with a healthy right whale population. Encouragingly, the last few decades have brought development of a recovery plan for this species. Increasing public interest in these and other whales is apparent in a growing whale watch industry, the designation of protected habitat, and the dedication of millions of dollars to right whale surveillance and research. But these resources will be squandered if we cannot eliminate present-day threats to the right whale. The process of doing so will no doubt be challenging, but the Council is committed to its success. The alternative -- extinction of the northern right whale -- is unacceptable. Trudy Coxe will become Secretariat of the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment on June 13, and is Secretary of Massachusetts' Executive Office of Environmental Affairs. |
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Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine