By Mia McCormick, Environment Florida
In 2021 scientists named a unique, mysterious and largely unknown species in the Gulf, the Rice’s whale. They can grow to around 40 feet long and spend their time bouncing between the seafloor during the day and the ocean surface at night.
“Newly discovered” and “newly extinct” should never be in the same sentence but that’s exactly what this whale is facing, unless we act now to save them.
Rice’s whales are endangered and only live in the Gulf of Mexico. Their core habitat and breeding grounds are along the continental shelf from Louisiana to southwest Florida. The Gulf is also prime drilling grounds for oil companies. According to the U.S. Department of the Interior, three new leases to drill for gas or oil will be issued in the Gulf starting next year.
Every time we drill, we run the risk of oil spills. An estimated 20% of the Rice’s whale population died in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. Now there are fewer than 100 left.
Pending protections and extending deadlines
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service submitted a proposal to designate 28,270 miles within the whale’s core living area as critical habitat. That designation requires any federal agency to ensure that actions they fund, authorize or carry out are not likely to destroy or adversely modify that habitat. Those actions include issuing permits to drill for oil.
Normally when a species is listed as endangered, critical habitat is designated at the same time, but since the Rice’s whale was only just discovered, it took NOAA some time to figure out where they live. These whales are elusive, usually surfacing at night. So NOAA used acoustic instruments to detect where Rice’s whales calls occur underwater.
The critical habitat designation for the Rice’s whale was submitted in July 2023. Given the extremely low numbers of these whales, a ruling deadline was set for April 2024. But an extension was filed moving that deadline to August, and now another one has pushed it all the way to Dec. 2.
North Atlantic right whales dodging death by vessel strike
Along Florida’s Northeast coast, right whales also struggle to survive. Vessel strikes and fishing gear entanglement kill more right whales than anything else. There are roughly 350 of this endangered species left in our waters and every time one is killed by a boat, it lessens the likelihood of species survival.
If boats move slower, there’s a better chance captains will see a whale and avoid it or the whale can get out of the way. There are seasonal speed regulations in place for boats over 65 feet that are enacted during the time of year that migrating right whales are likely to be in the area.
But the current speed zones are not enough. Right whales and their calves are washing up dead after being hit by vessels and current zones aren’t large enough to encompass the whales migratory patterns.
New regulations hit delays
New regulations were proposed two years ago. Since then, six more reports of right whale vessel collisions have come in and NOAA says only one-third of right whale deaths are actually documented.
The proposed changes alter the seasonal boundaries and dates for vessel speed enforcement to better protect the whales during breeding and migration. And they extend those reduced speed limits to boats 35 feet and larger — changes that will most certainly save right whale lives.
Save the whales now
Our Florida whales can’t wait; they need protection now to ensure their survival. Help us call on the Biden administration to enact critical habitat designation for Rice’s whales and new seasonal regulations for vessels traveling through North Atlantic right whale migratory areas.
December is not soon enough to designate critical habitat for our beautiful gulf whale, the Rice’s whale. Join us in telling the Biden administration to make this habitat designation a priority and pass the final rule now.
We can reduce right whale deaths in the Atlantic Ocean with proposed regulations to better protect their migration areas and reduce vessel speeds, but the longer we delay, the slimmer the chance there will be enough reproductive females left to ensure this species survives. The ruling continues to hit delays as officials meet with stakeholders.
Join us in urging President Biden to release the strongest proposed seasonal regulations now.
Mia McCormick is an advocate with Environment Florida, a policy and action group with one mission: to build a healthier, greener Sunshine State. Banner photo: A Rice’s whale in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons). This piece was originally published at https://environmentamerica.org/florida/articles/florida-whales-need-our-help/.
If you are interested in submitting an opinion piece to The Invading Sea, email Editor Nathan Crabbe at ncrabbe@fau.edu. Sign up for The Invading Sea newsletter by visiting here.
