Media Release 1.1
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Theresa M. Barbo
(774) 263-4219
ccsmedia@coastalstudies.org

PCCS Calls for Emergency Speed Restrictions for Vessels in Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary

Resolution to Protect Endangered North Atlantic Right Whales

(Provincetown, Cape Cod, MA) - Under a resolution adopted recently by the Sanctuary Advisory Council (SAC,) emergency speed restrictions for vessels using the Gerry E. Studds/Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary would receive immediate review and consideration for 2006.

The SAC is a federally-appointed panel that advises resource managers on its policies and plans to manage Stellwagen, one of 13 national marine sanctuaries. The motion, which calls for the superintendent of the sanctuary to consult with NOAA Fisheries Service and the Coast Guard on emergency speed restrictions this year, is designed to safeguard the critically-endangered North Atlantic right whale from collisions with private and commercial vessels, a leading cause of whale mortality.

Close to a million people a year board whale watch vessels bound for the Sanctuary. Large commercial vessels regularly transit through the 842-square mile region bound to and from seaports including Boston and the Bay of Fundy, leaving the struggling right whale population - estimated at 350 - particularly vulnerable to collisions with marine traffic.

Earlier in the day, SAC members heard from a biologist who reported that the rate of right whale mortality due to ship strikes has reached emergency proportions. Since shipping and whale watching management issues are not expected to be under review for two more years, a sense of urgency shrouded the resolution. "The species is on the brink of extinction and further delay on this issue was unacceptable," said PCCS Executive Director Peter Borrelli, who offered the motion. "We have a crisis," he added.

The National Ocean Service (NOS,) a sub-agency of NOAA Fisheries Service, has placed a marine traffic plan to reduce ship strikes on its priority list which, when enacted, could reduce the likelihood of a ship striking a whale by 70%. However, the earliest draft of a federally-mandated, updated management plan is not expected for months followed by rounds of public hearings on an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS.)

SAC members who voted in favor of the resolution, which passed 8 to 3 with three SAC members abstaining, included: Mason Weinrich of Whale Center of New England; Susan Farady of the Ocean Conservancy; Priscilla Brooks of the Conservation Law Foundation; Richard Wheeler of the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History; Barry Gibson, New England regional director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance; Marine Science Writer Deborah Cramer; Fishing Activist and SAC Chair John Williamson, and PCCS Executive Director Peter Borrelli.

In 1982, the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies nominated the area for federal designation and protection, one of only 13 national marine sanctuaries in the country. Stellwagen borders the eastern edge of Massachusetts Bay, six miles north of Provincetown, 26 miles east of Boston and 7 miles south of Gloucester.

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