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SC/69B/NH/01
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Resource ID
22126
Access
Open
Document Number
SC/69B/NH/01
Full Title
U.S. Management Efforts to Recover North Atlantic Right Whales: 2023-2024 Updates
Author
Niki E. Lisi Et Al.
Authors Summary
Lisi et al. describes NOAA?s National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) continued holistic approach to protect North Atlantic right whales, which are one of the rarest large whale species in the world. The latest preliminary estimate suggests there are approximately 360 individuals remaining, with fewer than 70 reproductively active females. The Unusual Mortality Event, declared in 2017, remains ongoing and includes 123 individuals as of March 2024. Human impacts continue to threaten the survival of this species, as the two greatest threats to North Atlantic right whales are entanglement in fishing gear and vessel strikes. A 2023 PVA demonstrates that vessel strikes and entanglements must be reduced considerably for the species to continue to persist. In 2024, NOAA Fisheries convened a NARW Vessel Strike Risk Reduction Technology Workshop to explore and promote new technologies to reduce the risk of vessel strikes, as they investigate options to foster research, development, testing, and operationalization of innovative tools and management practices. NOAA Fisheries published a proposal in August 2022 to modify the Vessel Strike Reduction Rule, received over 90,000 public comments, and the final rule is being reviewed by the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, part of the Office of Management and Budget. For reducing entanglements, NOAA Fisheries continues to approve new weak ropes and weak insertions for buoy lines, including three new large diameter weak ropes approved in 2023 and early 2024 for the offshore lobster fishery. Additionally, the agency is currently working on a new regulation for fixed gear fisheries, excluding lobster and Jonah crab.
Publisher
IWC
Publication Year
2024
Abstract
NOAA?s National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) continues to pursue holistic approaches to protect North Atlantic right whales, which are one of the rarest large whale species in the world. The latest preliminary estimate suggests there are approximately 360 individuals remaining, with fewer than 70 reproductively active females. The Unusual Mortality Event, declared in 2017, remains ongoing and includes 123 individuals as of March 2024. Human impacts continue to threaten the survival of this species, as the two greatest threats to North Atlantic right whales are entanglement in fishing gear and vessel strikes. NOAA Fisheries is also working to address potential and emerging threats such as offshore wind development, aquaculture, and ocean noise. Climate change, which presents an ongoing and emerging threat, is also being tracked and addressed.