Right Whale Protection Faces Legal Challenge Over Speed Limits

[{"selector":"#anim-243ecd9a-9f18-452e-b2cb-6ebdb39b9a91","keyframes":{"opacity":[0,1]},"delay":500,"duration":600,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-bc5b8fc0-d8aa-46bc-a127-557e77df3004","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(-114.55696%, 0px, 0)","translate3d(0px, 0px, 0)"]},"delay":500,"duration":600,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-2d095f98-98b4-4d19-817c-ae303a0e0431","keyframes":{"opacity":[0,1]},"delay":800,"duration":500,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-068112e6-8eaf-4f2f-84c0-4b1d22aa594b","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(-122.3301%, 0px, 0)","translate3d(0px, 0px, 0)"]},"delay":800,"duration":500,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] Right Whale Protection Faces Legal Challenge Over Speed Limits Govind Tekale

Conservation groups are fighting a legal battle to keep vessel speed limits that protect North Atlantic right whales from deadly collisions.

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A vessel captain, fined for speeding through whale protection zones, is challenging NOAA’s authority to enforce these lifesaving rules.

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Only 370 North Atlantic right whales remain, with fewer than 70 reproductive females, pushing the species dangerously close to extinction.

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Vessel strikes killed multiple right whales in 2024, including a newborn calf, a juvenile female, and a mother-calf pair.

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Large vessels must slow down in critical whale habitats under the 2008 vessel speed rule, but this key protection is now under threat.

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Experts warn right whales live in a “Hunger Games lottery,” where a single strike may seem rare, but the species faces an extreme risk of deadly collisions

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No technology currently exists to prevent ship strikes, and overturning the speed rule could remove the last barrier between these whales and extinction.

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Conservationists fear the court case in Florida could weaken protections for endangered species across U.S. waters.

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If the speed rule is overturned, right whales may face a future where survival is left to chance against fast-moving vessels.

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