New right whale voluntary slow zone in place off northern Outer Banks
NOAA Fisheries recently announced that a voluntary slow zone has been implemented off the northern Outer Banks after endangered North Atlantic right whales were spotted offshore on Thursday.
There are approximately 360 individual North Atlantic right whales remaining, including fewer than 70 reproductively active females.
Vessel strikes are considered the primary threat to the whales because they spend a lot of time at or close to the water surface, and they are difficult to spot from a boat due to their dark color and lack of a dorsal fin.
To reduce the risk of collisions, most vessels 65 feet or longer must travel at 10 knots or less in certain locations along the U.S. East Coast at certain times of the year.
That includes an area up to 20 nautical miles off the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, Cape Lookout and Beaufort Inlet, and from Wrightsville Beach southward, between November 1 and April 30 when right whales are migrating and calving.
NOAA Fisheries also institutes voluntary speed zones elsewhere in coastal waters when there are visual sightings of three or more right whales within a discrete area, or their presence is detected using acoustical devices.
The program notifies vessel operators to slow down to avoid right whales, provides maps and coordinates to vessel operators indicating areas where right whales have been detected.
For a period of 15 days after a whale is detected, mariners are encouraged to avoid these areas or reduce speeds to 10 knots or less while transiting.
Last month, NOAA Fisheries withdrew proposed changes to vessel speed limit rules that included expanding the 10-knot speed restriction to include all vessels 35-feet and longer from northern Florida to the Northeast U.S. for up to seven months of the year, and would have introduced mandatory speed zones where right whales were detected.
After receiving approximately 90,000 public comments, the National Marine Fisheries Service cited insufficient time to finalize the regulation under the Biden Administration as the primary reason for withdrawal.
