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Wednesday, October 9, 2024

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Hurricane Milton's outer bands reach Florida as millions of residents race to prepare or flee the path; ME 'living shorelines' counter rising sea levels and stronger storms; NC moms speak out on medical neglect in high-risk pregnancies; TN grant program funds early health care career pathways.

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President Biden cancels international travel as Florida braces for Hurricane Milton, Arizona's early voting brings a focus on Native votes, SCOTUS considers ghost guns, and Nevada gets ready to decide on a voter ID measure.

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Hurricane Helene has some rural North Carolina towns worried larger communities might get more attention, there's mixed feelings about ranked choice voting on the Oregon ballot next month and New York farmers earn money feeding school kids.

Right whale advocates call for vessel speed limits

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Friday, February 9, 2024   

Wildlife advocates are calling on the Biden administration to tighten regulations protecting right whales in the North Atlantic following a series of injuries and deaths of the rare ocean mammals.

Defenders of Wildlife said since 2017, there have been 37 documented right whale deaths in U.S. and Canadian waters. The population has declined 20% since 2010.

Jane Davenport, senior attorney for Defenders of Wildlife, said her group supports the Biden administration's proposal to impose seasonal speed limits on vessels 35 feet and longer to slow the boats down during the whales' busiest times.

"In other words, if right whales are detected either visually or acoustically, then there would be drawn a dynamic speed zone around them in which vessels would have to slow to 10 nautical miles an hour or less while they're going through that zone," Davenport explained.

Davenport noted a right whale calf currently has a 1-in-14 chance of dying before its first birthday from a vessel strike. The Biden administration is investing nearly $10 million to support recovery efforts as part of the Inflation Reduction Act.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said right whales are nearing extinction, with only 360 remaining, including fewer than 70 reproductively active females.

Davenport argued right whale protections are among the most critical environmental efforts the country can undertake.

"All that fertilization that they're doing," Davenport stressed. "I mean, we talk about saving trees, but we need to realize saving a whale is the equivalent of saving thousands and thousands and thousands of trees, in terms of the ecosystem services it can provide."

Davenport reported the latest right whale injured off the South Carolina coast was the first one to be born during the 2024 calving season. NOAA said its injuries were consistent with a vessel strike.

Davenport added only one-third of right whale mortalities are ever observed, so the documented deaths represent a significant undercount of the actual number.

Disclosure: Defenders of Wildlife contributes to our fund for reporting on Climate Change/Air Quality, Endangered Species and Wildlife, Energy Policy, and Public Lands/Wilderness. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.


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Hurricane Milton grew to become a major hurricane on the morning of Oct. 7, 2024. (AWS S3 Explorer/Wikimedia Commons)

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