The North Atlantic Right Whale, Part II: How to Help Today

North Atlantic right whale blowing.

Photo Credit: NOAA Photo Library (https://photolib.noaa.gov/Collections/NOAAs-Ark/Whales/emodule/722/eitem/30403)

There is still time to make a comment on proposed modifications to the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan, as well as the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for recommend risk reduction measures for other Atlantic trap/pot and gillnet fisheries. However - there is not much time. The comment period closes 1 March 2021.

North Atlantic right whales are critically endangered, and a ton of effort goes into studying this species - especially what harms or kills them, and how many are left. Since I last wrote, the calf count for the 2021 season is up to 14 living calves. It was almost 15 but unfortunately, one calf that was initially seen alive with its mother was struck and killed by a small boat.  NOAA put out a great summary of all the calves for this season here.

Boat and ship strike is just one of the threats to these animals. The other is entanglement in fishing gear. Several types of fishing gear can entangle whales, but the proposed rule that is open for public comment focuses solely on the crab and trap/pot fisheries in the Northeast Region Trap/Pot Management Area (Northeast Region). AKA - fisheries that use traps or pots to capture animals that live on the seafloor (lobster, crab) and are connected to each other and to the surface using rope or line (vertical lines). Northeast region refers to the Northeast coastal states of the U.S.—Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, Rhode Island.

And yes, these documents are huge and full of jargon. Below is a quick list of what the proposed modifications would do:

• Modify gear configurations to reduce the number of vertical lines by requiring more traps between buoy lines and by introducing weak insertions or weak rope into buoy lines.

  • What this is talking about is making it so more traps (the thing that sits on the bottom and catches lobster or crab) can be connected together using ground lines that aren’t up in the water, and therefore fewer lines will be going up to the surface.

  • This also will add supposed “weak spots” that allows the gear to break if a force (such as a whale swimming into it) is applied to it.

• Modify existing seasonal restricted areas to be closed to buoy lines.

  • What this is talking about are particular areas of known importance to right whales - these areas would be closed to fishing during certain times of the year (although they will now allow new fishing technology called “ropeless fishing” to be used, since no lines would be going to the surface.)

• Add up to two new seasonal buoy line closures.

  • This would add new areas that are closed to fishing that uses vertical lines.

• Modify gear marking to introduce state-specific marking colors and increase the number of and area of marked lines.

  • This is to try and track gear and where it originated from by marking the gear with a particular color. There is controversy on where the gear that entangles whales comes from. A lot of fisherman say it isn’t happening in their area, or that it is all taking place in Canada. This tries to address that.

Now, will these things solve the issue? They certainly couldn’t hurt - but some of these things are a mixed bag. First off - area closures are good in theory, but the ones listed are probably not enough, especially when whales still must swim through the fishing gear that is outside the closed area in order to get to the closed area. Second - weak links are used now but it’s really unclear if they do much. And of course, this rule alone isn’t enough to save the right whales. The overall goal is to reduce entanglement risk from all U.S. fisheries by 60 - 80% and this document aims for the 60% reduction. However, if the goal is to get PBR (potential biological removal) to 0.9 per year for the species (yeah, that’s less than one death per year. We’ve had anywhere from one to 17 since 2012) then we need to aim higher, as well as start addressing all sources of mortality including ship strike and other fisheries.

But I suppose any action to save the species is better than no action at all, and this is our chance to voice our opinions, and know they will definitely be read and considered. I urge you to make your voice heard. If you want my suggestions on what to say, let the regulators know:

·         You would like them to support ropeless fishing

·         You would like longer and larger area closures, or the option to have more dynamic closures that could be modified based on whales shifting their habitat use

Please be sure to check out this fact sheet if you have additional questions.

And, you can make your voice heard and comment by clicking the comment button on this website.