PORTLAND, Maine (AP) \u2014 The U.S.’s ocean regulator plans to make industry-friendly changes to a longstanding rule designed to protect vanishing whales, prompting criticism from environmental groups who cite the recent death of an endangered whale.<\/p>\n
The rules protect the North Atlantic right whale<\/a>, which numbers less than 400 and lives off the East Coast. The giant animals are protected by a vessel speed rule that requires large ships to slow down at certain times to avoid collisions, which is a leading cause of death for the whales.<\/p>\n The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in a Thursday statement to The Associated Press that it plans to soon announce proposed new rules designed to \u201cmodernize\u201d the whale protections. The proposal will be a \u201cderegulatory-focused action\u201d that will seek to \u201creduce unnecessary regulatory and economic burdens while ensuring responsible conservation practices for endangered North Atlantic right whales,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n A notice of rulemaking about the right whale rules is listed on the U.S. Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs website, but it does not include any details about the proposal. NOAA said in its statement that more information about the rules was forthcoming and that the agency was focused on \u201cimplementing new technologies, engineering approaches, and other advanced tools\u201d to protect the whales.<\/p>\n Several environmental groups criticized the move away from vessel speed rules. Some cited the Feb. 10 confirmation of the death of a 3-year-old female whale off Virginia. The cause of the animal\u2019s death was not yet determined, but it died at a far younger age than typical.<\/p>\n \u201cAnother female right whale \u2014 the future of this species \u2014 has lost her life. We urgently need more right whale protections, not fewer. The Trump administration\u2019s apparent determination to weaken the vessel speed rule could not come at a worse time,\u201d said Jane Davenport, senior attorney at conservation group Defenders of Wildlife. <\/p>\n Right whales migrate every year from calving grounds off Florida and Georgia to feeding grounds off New England and Canada. Along the way, they are vulnerable to collisions with ships and entanglement<\/a> in commercial fishing gear. They were once numerous off the East Coast but were decimated during the commercial whaling era and have been federally protected for decades.<\/p>\n