The North Atlantic right whale is critically endangered. In the 1970s, with the first whale watches, there were estimated to be 350 right whales, and the population was growing. Then, in 2017, right whales took a turn for the worse. By 2020, the population had fallen to 338 right whales, with only 50-70 breeding females. We must now do more to protect and restore right whales.
It is time for community groups, interests, and organizations to call for the Right Whale National Marine Sanctuary to protect the right whales and this critical shoaly marine habitat through education, research, and resource protection efforts informed by an active advisory council. The sanctuary would work with community and interest groups, including conservationists, scientists, fishers, windmill and boat operators, and government agencies, and to partner with indigenous knowledge holders and tribal nations, including the Narraganset and Wampanoag Aquinna.
The proposed area for the NMS is a swoosh of sandy shoaling ocean waters sweeping from Duxbury Beach around Cape Cod and the Islands to Point Judith and RI beaches to the West, from Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary to Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge.
To restore the right whale population, quarterly meetings of the Sanctuary’s Advisory Council would advance the work of the Sanctuary to develop comprehensive interagency plans, increase data sharing between academia, government, industry, and community groups to maximize the amount of data available; increase analytical rigor; develop and implement directed studies of right whale population-level changes; and work closely with local, state and government agencies to continue implementing improvements for right whales.
The lesson of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary is that right whales benefitted, and the population grew when diverse interests came together to collaborate at all levels of government. But Stellwagen is too small for the wide-ranging right whales to protect them adequately. WORKING IN CONCERT WITH OTHERS, the MA/RI Right Whale National Marine Sanctuary protects and restores the population of right whales.
Take a moment to tell the government why you support establishing the MA/RI Right Whale National Marine Sanctuary.
To succeed, the Sanctuary must include all voices and perspectives. Please complete this form if your group would like to join the coalition calling for the Right Whale National Marine Sanctuary to advance the best ecosystem-based management practices on land and sea.
Planting Miyawaki Forests to Restore Water Cycles to Save Right Whales
From Derby Wharf in Salem, Massachusetts, Rob talks about how people in cities are acting to save right whales by planting high-diversity native woody plant pocket forests to increase carbon drawdown from the atmosphere and build soil to hold water, benefiting local life and reducing ocean pollution.
During the last 25 years, phytoplankton productivity has fallen 65%, and copepod calorie values are falling. As a result, right whales must eat more for the same nutrition. The spreading of the herbicide Roundup has increased tenfold since glyphosate-resistant seeds were developed by Monsanto in 1996. Polluted stormwater discharging into the sea is likely causing more harm to right whales than is the increase in nutrient pollution and rising sea temperatures. Slowing rainwater down, letting it infiltrate the ground instead of puddling on hot impervious surfaces, reduces the amount of pollutants reaching the sea and cools the ocean surface waters.
Play the 12 minute video