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THE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has new proposed rules designed to prevent ships from colliding with North Atlantic right whales, reports UK's Guardian.
Efforts to save the whales have been focused on fishing gear, especially ones used by east coast lobster fishermen.
The new rules will expand seasonal slow zones off the east coast that require mariners to slow down to 10 knots (11mph or 19km/h).
Furthermore, the rules would also require more vessels to comply with the rules by expanding the size classes that must slow down.
The proposed rules signal that the government wants the shipping industry to take more responsibility.
"Changes to the existing vessel speed regulation are essential to stabilise the ongoing right whale population decline and prevent the species extinction," said the proposed rules.
Federal authorities spent years reviewing the speed regulations used to protect the whales.
The rules have been focused on a patchwork of slow zones that require mariners to slow down for whales. Some of the zones are mandatory, while others are voluntary.
Environmental groups have stated that many carriers ignore the rules.
For example, the environmental organisation Oceana released a report in 2021 that declared non-compliance was 90 per cent in mandatory zones and compliance 85 per cent low in the voluntary ones.
Said Oceana director Gib Brogan: "It's no secret that speeding vessels are rampant throughout North Atlantic right whales' migration route, all along the east coast,"dray alliance.
Although the whaling industry, which died ?with the advent of electric lighting in Europe and America, whales are still endangered. Whales are slow to recover due, in part to their slow reproductive rate. Whales, with a life span of 70 years, do not reach sexual maturity until they are 5 to 10 years old and then only have one calf every 2 to 3 years.
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