Reducing Vessel Strikes

Collisions between whales and large vessels often go unnoticed and unreported, even though whales can be injured or killed and vessels can sustain damage. Collisions with boats as small as 30 feet in length can be lethal to right whales, especially calves, and dangerous for boat passengers. The most common vessel-related injuries to right whales are blunt force trauma and propeller cuts.

We have taken steps to reduce the threat of vessel collisions to North Atlantic right whales, including:

• Requiring vessels to slow down in specific areas, known as Seasonal Management Areas, during specific times
• Implementing voluntary speed reductions in Dynamic Management Areas and Right Whale Slow Zones
• Implementing a 500-yard “no-approach” safety zone around right whales
• Recommending alternative shipping routes and areas to be avoided
• Modifying international shipping lanes
• Developing right whale alert systems
• Developing mandatory vessel reporting systems
• Increasing outreach and education
• Improving our stranding response

Vessel Speed Restrictions

The most effective way to reduce collision risk is to keep whales and vessels apart. If that is not possible, the next best option is for vessels to slow down and keep a lookout. The slower a vessel travels, the more time the whale has to get out of the way, and the less likely a collision is to result in serious injury or death. 

In Seasonal Management Areas, along the U.S. East Coast, most vessels 65 feet or longer must slow to 10 knots or less during times of the year when right whales are likely to be present. Failure to comply with speed restrictions results in fines.

Outside of these areas, if three or more right whales are sighted within close proximity, we implement a temporary voluntary speed reduction area called Dynamic Management Areas. In the Northeast, we also implement similar measures known as Right Whale Slow Zones when right whales are detected by underwater acoustic receivers. 

Unfortunately, a recent analysis found that cooperation with these voluntary measures is low, indicating they may not be sufficient to meaningfully reduce vessel collisions.

Some states also regulate vessels to help minimize impacts. The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries requires all vessels (including those less than 65 feet) to travel at speeds no greater than 10 knots in Cape Cod Bay during specific times of the year.

Mandatory Vessel Reporting System

To further reduce the number of vessel strikes, NOAA Fisheries and the U.S. Coast Guard developed and implemented a mandatory vessel reporting system for North Atlantic right whales. When large vessels enter one of two key right whale habitats—feeding areas off the U.S. northeast coast and calving habitat off the U.S. southeast coast—they must report to a shore-based station. The vessel then receives a message about right whales, their vulnerability to vessel strikes, precautionary measures to avoid hitting a whale, and locations of recent sightings.

Right Whale Sighting Advisory System

To reduce vessel collisions, mariners are urged to use caution and proceed at safe speeds in areas where right whales are likely to be found. NOAA Fisheries and our partners developed an interactive mapping application. It provides real-time information on North Atlantic right whale sightings along the U.S. East Coast and in Canada.

Reducing Entanglement

Entanglement in fishing gear is a primary cause of mortality and serious injury for some whale species, including the North Atlantic right whale. Fishing gear, especially vertical line rope in the water column, can wrap around a whale, cut into its body, and cause serious injuries and death. Even gear that is removed through disentanglement efforts or falls off can severely stress a whale, weaken it, prevent it from feeding, and sap the energy it needs to swim, feed, and reproduce. The Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team is a group of fishermen, scientists, conservationists, and state and federal officials that provides recommendations on how to reduce entanglements in U.S. commercial fisheries. We use those recommendations to develop management measures to reduce whale entanglements.  

Specifically, we have taken these steps to reduce the threat of entanglement to North Atlantic right whales:

• Implementing seasonal closures to fixed gear commercial fisheries in areas where right whales are known to aggregate
• Requiring weak inserts or weak rope in fixed gear fisheries fishing to increase the likelihood that right whales can break free of buoy lines and gillnet panels
• Requiring fewer vertical buoy lines in trap/pot fisheries (known as trawling up) in areas where right whales occur
• Requiring sinking ground line (versus floating) between trap/pots and gillnet anchoring systems 
• Mandating gear marking to improve our understanding of where and how right whales become entangled
• Increasing outreach and education
• Improving our stranding response

We are actively working with fishermen and manufacturers to test “on-demand,” or ropeless fishing gear, which will provide a future solution to prevent large whale entanglement.

Learn more about the Take Reduction Team's efforts to reduce whale entanglements

When entangled whales are reported anywhere along the U.S. East Coast, the NOAA-supported Atlantic Large Whale Disentanglement Network is called upon to try to help. The network is made up of emergency responders from 20 public and private organizations who have extensive training in how to disentangle large whales and increase their odds of surviving. The Network has successfully disentangled almost 30 North Atlantic right whales over the years. 

Examining gear removed from entangled animals is one of the key ways for us to determine whether regulations are working and fishing gear modifications are effective.

Overseeing Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response

We work with volunteer networks in all coastal states to respond to marine mammal strandings. When stranded animals are found alive, NOAA Fisheries and our partners assess the animal’s health. When stranded animals are found dead, our scientists work to understand and investigate the cause of death. Although the cause often remains unknown, scientists can sometimes identify strandings caused by vessel strike, entanglement, disease, harmful algal blooms, pollution exposure, and underwater noise. Some strandings can serve as indicators of ocean health, giving insight into larger environmental issues that may also have implications for human health and welfare.

Addressing Ocean Noise

Underwater noise threatens marine animal populations, interrupting their normal behavior and driving them away from areas important to their survival. NOAA Fisheries is investigating all aspects of acoustic communication and hearing in marine animals, including the effects of sound on whale behavior and hearing. In 2016, we issued technical guidance for assessing the effects of human-made sound on marine mammals’ hearing.

Marine Mammal Unusual Mortality Events

There is an ongoing Unusual Mortality Event for North Atlantic Right Whales. An unusual mortality event is "a stranding that is unexpected; involves a significant die-off of any marine mammal population; and demands immediate response." Scientists carefully study unusual mortality events to determine the cause of these events and better understand the health of marine mammal populations.

International Collaboration

NOAA Fisheries collaborates with Canada through bilateral discussions on science and management efforts needed to recover North Atlantic right whales. It is crucial for both countries to take and sustain additional efforts to reduce right whale mortalities and serious injuries. Risk reduction measures and whale-safe maritime practices must be a shared responsibility. For example, we share innovative techniques and solutions that reduce risk to right whales while fostering healthy fisheries.

Leadership message on U.S.-Canada collaboration

Recovery Plan

Under the Endangered Species Act, NOAA Fisheries is required to develop and implement recovery plans for the conservation and survival of listed species. The ultimate goal of the North Atlantic Right Whale Recovery Plan is to recover the species, with an interim goal of improving its status from endangered to threatened.

The major actions recommended in the plan are:

• Reduce or eliminate injury and mortality caused by vessel collisions and fishing gear
• Protect habitats essential to the survival and recovery of the species
• Minimize the effects of vessel disturbance
• Continue the international ban on whaling
• Monitor the population size and trends in abundance of the species
• Maximize efforts to free entangled or stranded right whales and acquire scientific information from dead specimens

Recovery Plan Implementation

To implement the North Atlantic right whale Recovery Plan, we established two regional implementation teams: the Northeast U.S. Implementation Team and the Southeast U.S. Implementation Team.

Critical Habitat Designation

NOAA Fisheries designated critical habitat for the North Atlantic right whale under the Endangered Species Act in 1994 and revised the designation in 2016 to support the species’ recovery. Critical habitat for the North Atlantic right whale includes two areas—a foraging area in the Northeast and a calving area in the Southeast.