{"id":20230,"date":"2025-01-16T19:17:03","date_gmt":"2025-01-16T20:17:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=20230"},"modified":"2025-01-16T20:30:48","modified_gmt":"2025-01-16T20:30:48","slug":"biden-administration-withdraws-protections-for-endangered-whales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=20230","title":{"rendered":"Biden Administration Withdraws Protections for Endangered Whales"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The proposed rules would have slowed more ships to prevent collisions with rare North Atlantic right whales.<\/p>\n

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The Biden administration on Thursday withdrew a proposal to expand protections for an endangered whale species. The rules would have required some ships along the Eastern Seaboard to slow down.<\/p>\n

North Atlantic right whales, a rare species conservationists have aimed to safeguard, have been injured or killed by collisions with vessels along the East coast. In August 2022, the National Marine Fisheries Service proposed rules to lower the risk of whale strikes<\/a> by expanding existing slow zones and regulating more types of ships. But after bristling public debate over the rules and with just days left in President Biden\u2019s term, the agency canned the suggested change.<\/p>\n

The fisheries service received over 90,000 public comments on the rule change, according to the agency\u2019s filing, which was published in the Federal Register on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite its best efforts, N.M.F.S. does not have sufficient time to finalize this regulation in this administration due to the scope and volume of public comments,\u201d the agency said in the filing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The issue had particularly generated discussion in Massachusetts, because of the state\u2019s extensive coastline, which harbors a major fishing industry.<\/p>\n

Gov. Maura Healey of Massachusetts, a Democrat who was opposed to the measures, celebrated the rollback.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis decision is good news for residents and businesses on Cape Cod and the Islands, and we look forward to continuing to work together to protect right whales and the local economy,\u201d Ms. Healey said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The rules would have also affected ferry service to destinations like Nantucket and Martha\u2019s Vineyard.<\/p>\n

Conservation groups blasted the withdrawal as further imperiling right whales\u2019 recovery in the North Atlantic.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cFailing to implement stronger vessel-strike protection measures puts these animals at further risk of extinction,\u201d said Jessica Redfern, a conservation scientist at New England Aquarium in Boston, in a statement. \u201cTo survive, right whales require immediate, decisive and effective solutions to protect individuals from preventable deaths.\u201d<\/p>\n

The National Marine Fisheries Service reported 15 fatal and seven nonfatal vessel strikes<\/a> since 2017, though not all whale deaths are easily documented. In October, the agency estimated that there were only about 370 right whales left as of 2023.<\/p>\n

Existing boundaries for seasonal slow zones and rules limiting the speed of some ship classes will remain in place. These areas including waters off the coast of Cape Cod, bays dotting the Mid-Atlantic and most of the coastline off South Carolina and Georgia. <\/p>\n

President-elect Donald J. Trump, who will be sworn in on Monday, is unlikely to prioritize similar rules to save endangered species.<\/p>\n

In recent weeks, he has made inaccurate claims about what he saw as the unnecessary protection of delta smelt, an endangered fish, for impeding wildfire containment<\/a> efforts in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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On the campaign trail, Mr. Trump has long assailed offshore wind farms for killing whales, though no scientific evidence<\/a> supports his claim. He announced in early January that he planned to halt the construction<\/a> of new wind farms.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The proposed rules would have slowed more ships to prevent collisions with rare North Atlantic right whales.The Biden administration on Thursday withdrew a proposal to expand protections for an endangered whale species. The rules would have required some ships along the Eastern Seaboard to slow down.North Atlantic right whales, a rare species conservationists have aimed to safeguard, have been injured or killed by collisions with vessels along the East coast. In August 2022, the National Marine Fisheries Service proposed rules to lower the risk of whale strikes by expanding existing slow zones and regulating more types of ships. But after bristling public debate over the rules and with just days left in President Biden\u2019s term, the agency canned the suggested change.The fisheries service received over 90,000 public comments on the rule change, according to the agency\u2019s filing, which was published in the Federal Register on Thursday.\u201cDespite its best efforts, N.M.F.S. does not have sufficient time to finalize this regulation in this administration due to the scope and volume of public comments,\u201d the agency said in the filing.The issue had particularly generated discussion in Massachusetts, because of the state\u2019s extensive coastline, which harbors a major fishing industry.Gov. Maura Healey of Massachusetts, a Democrat who was opposed to the measures, celebrated the rollback.\u201cThis decision is good news for residents and businesses on Cape Cod and the Islands, and we look forward to continuing to work together to protect right whales and the local economy,\u201d Ms. Healey said in a statement.The rules would have also affected ferry service to destinations like Nantucket and Martha\u2019s Vineyard.Conservation groups blasted the withdrawal as further imperiling right whales\u2019 recovery in the North Atlantic.\u201cFailing to implement stronger vessel-strike protection measures puts these animals at further risk of extinction,\u201d said Jessica Redfern, a conservation scientist at New England Aquarium in Boston, in a statement. \u201cTo survive, right whales require immediate, decisive and effective solutions to protect individuals from preventable deaths.\u201dThe National Marine Fisheries Service reported 15 fatal and seven nonfatal vessel strikes since 2017, though not all whale deaths are easily documented. In October, the agency estimated that there were only about 370 right whales left as of 2023.Existing boundaries for seasonal slow zones and rules limiting the speed of some ship classes will remain in place. These areas including waters off the coast of Cape Cod, bays dotting the Mid-Atlantic and most of the coastline off South Carolina and Georgia. President-elect Donald J. Trump, who will be sworn in on Monday, is unlikely to prioritize similar rules to save endangered species.In recent weeks, he has made inaccurate claims about what he saw as the unnecessary protection of delta smelt, an endangered fish, for impeding wildfire containment efforts in Los Angeles.On the campaign trail, Mr. Trump has long assailed offshore wind farms for killing whales, though no scientific evidence supports his claim. He announced in early January that he planned to halt the construction of new wind farms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20232,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20230"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20233,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20230\/revisions\/20233"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}