Understanding The North Atlantic Right Whale Litigation

Details

• Personal Author:
  Benjamin ; Gabrielle ; Porter ; Read
• Corporate Authors:
  University of Maine/University of New Hampshire Sea Grant College Program
• NOAA Program & Office:
  Sea Grant ; OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research)
• Sea Grant Program:
  MEU (Maine Sea Grant) ; RIU (Rhode Island Sea Grant)
• Description:
  The North Atlantic right whale is critically endangered, with a population of fewer than 400 ; individuals. Federal laws, including the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and Marine Mammal ; Protection Act (MMPA), protect the right whale and require the government to consider and avoid ; harm to the species before taking actions that may affect them. Entanglement with fishing gear is ; among the most common ways that right whales are harmed, so regulators cannot authorize fishing ; without first considering how much of a risk entanglement poses and adopting measures to avoid ; and minimize the frequency and severity of interactions between whales and fishing gear. ; Disagreement about the effectiveness of these measures has recently resulted in challenges to the ; legality of the American lobster, Jonah crab, gillnet, and other fisheries in waters off New England. ; While both state and federal fishing regulators have been sued, this document only discusses ; litigation challenging federal fisheries. These fisheries occur in waters between 3 and 200 nautical ; miles from shore.
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• Document Type:
  Technical Report
• Funding:
  Grant no. NA18OAR4170094
• Rights Information:
  Public Domain
• Compliance:
  Submitted
• Download URL:
  https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/39463/noaa_39463_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 764.26 KB]
• Collection(s):
  Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) ; Sea Grant Publications
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:51c64f835239b91b9a3b11bfc4e68bb8565788852812715d649b5d6bcc5d3d51