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Since 2008, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, has imposed speed restrictions on ships 65 feet and longer when they pass through areas that North Atlantic right whales frequent in order to protect them from vessel strikes.
The leading causes of death for right whales, an endangered species, are getting hit by boats and getting tangled in fishing gear, though climate change is also a critical factor in their decline. Warming ocean temperatures are making it harder for the whales to find food, causing them to have fewer calves, and driving them into areas with fewer protections against entanglements and ship strikes. Because there are so few whales left, every calf born or whale killed is critical to the species’ survival. In 2008, the population was estimated at 313 and growing, reaching a high of 483 in 2011.
Since the speed limit was implemented, more than 270 whales have been born, though ... Read more
