Kerry pushes for federal right whale rule to be released

The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee today passed a bill to force the federal government to better protect endangered North Atlantic right whale from ship strikes.

The rule, in the making since 2004, would require ships greater than 65 feet in length to slow down as they enter U.S. ports when right whales are nearby. The National Marine Fisheries Service finalized the rule over a year ago and sent it to the federal Office and Management and Budget where it has floundered.

In 2006, environmentalists say, five right whales were seriously injured by ship strikes.

"This is a victory for one of the most endangered creatures on the planet," said Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry who filed the bill to the Commerce Committee with Maine Senator Olympia Snowe. "The National Marine Fisheries Service led a 4-year rulemaking process to reduce collisions between whales and ships and the Bush administration dragged its feet holding up this rule for over a year. Today we can finally declare that help is on the way.”

The bill will now go before the Senate for a full vote. There is a similar bill pending in the House.

There are only about 350 North Atlantic Right whales left in the world. The animals migrate from the Bay of Fundy to as far south as Florida and are also often found in large numbers off Massachusetts. Those small numbers mean that even one death of a breeding female could contribute to the species decline.

Many of the creatures get tangled in fishing gear, but scientists say ships are their major killer: At least one-third of all the right whales that died in the last decade were killed from ship strikes. The creatures feed on zooplankton near the sea surface, often right in the path of ships entering or leaving Boston.

"Release of the ship strike rule is critical for reducing harm to right whales from ship strikes, and we applaud the efforts of Senator Kerry and his colleagues on the committee to help make it happen," said Vicki Cornish, vice president of marine wildlife conservation at the Ocean Conservancy. "Shipping companies must live up to their responsibility to protect endangered species, and slowing ships down is the best way to prevent whales from further harm."