U.S. President Joe Biden has announced USD 9 million (EUR 8.2 million) in funding for partnerships aimed at conserving North Atlantic right whales.
“North Atlantic right whales are approaching extinction with approximately 360 individuals remaining, including fewer than 70 reproductively active females,” NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Janet Coit said. “It’s imperative we advance our collective actions to help recover this species, and these partnerships will help the science and conservation community do just that.”
The main threats to North Atlantic right whales are fishing gear entanglements and vessel strikes, according to NOAA Fisheries, and the grant funding was awarded to projects addressing those issues.
USD 7 million (EUR 6.4 million) of the funding will go to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which it will use to test fishing gear without vertical lines in partnership with the industry. The remaining funding will be split between Duke University’s Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab, Marine Ecology and Telemetry Research, and The Flammang Lab at the New Jersey Institute of Technology Approximately for efforts to improve monitoring and modeling efforts.
The funding was provided via the Inflation Reduction Act, legislation that provided the Biden administration billions of dollars to spend on conservation, climate resiliency, habitat restoration, and fisheries support. Last year, the government set aside USD 82 million (EUR 72.7 million) of that funding for efforts to protect North Atlantic right whales.
“The collective actions of NOAA Fisheries and its partners are key to conserving North Atlantic right whales and preventing their extinction,” U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said. “Thanks to the Biden-Harris administration’s Investing in America agenda and the Inflation Reduction Act, this USD 9 million investment will help develop new technologies and strategies to support the recovery of the North Atlantic right whale population.”
The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) has called on both the U.S. and Canadian governments to adopt policies that accelerate the adoption of ropeless fishing gear. CBD Oceans Campaigner Ben Grundy praised the federal government for making the funding available while criticizing lawmakers for attempting to delay a new speed limit rule designed to protect right whales.
"This funding for North Atlantic right whale protections is coming at a critical time, and it’s so needed,” Grundy said. “Just this summer, we've seen three right whales entangled in Canadian waters and an effort in Congress to block a rule that would protect these critically endangered animals from deadly vessel strikes. To help save these majestic whales, we need on-demand fishing gear as soon as possible, and more investments like this in research and testing can get us closer to that. Unfortunately, the whales’ survival has become a political battleground where common-sense, science-based solutions are subverted by misinformation. I hope that’s changing."
