The U.S. House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries yesterday held a hearing to examine the impacts of the NOAA’s proposed changes to the North Atlantic Right Whale Vessel Strike Reduction Rule. Witnesses included stakeholders from the $230 billion recreational boating and fishing industries.

NOAA believes current rules to protect the North Atlantic right whale from vessel strikes are not doing enough. NOAA deputy administrator Janet Coit said vessel strikes and fishing entanglements are the main causes of whale fatalities. The right whale population is reportedly less than 350, and they migrate along the Atlantic Coast.

“Vessel strikes and entanglements are driving this decline in North Atlantic right whale population,” Coit said during the hearing. “We cannot afford to cause one mortal take of a North Atlantic right whale and achieve our recovery goals.”

NOAA has had rules for vessel operations in areas that the whales frequent since 2008. In January 2021, it proposed changes that include restricting boats 35 and larger to 10 knots in these areas. The previous length was 65 feet. It also proposed expanding seasonal speed zones up to 90 miles offshore for up to seven months a year.

“Recreational boaters and anglers and longtime conservationists share the goal of protecting the North Atlantic right whale and our ocean ecosystems,” NMMA president and CEO Frank Hugelmeyer said in a statement. “We’re committed to investing in technologies that do just that. NOAA’s proposed rule would be the largest restriction of Americans’ shared access rights to public waters, would put boaters at risk on the water, and decimate tens of thousands of businesses in coastal communities along the Atlantic Seaboard.”

Coit added that it’s “important to emphasize that this is a proposal.”

Members of the committees questioned the figures NOAA presented concerning the numbers of boats that would be affected and the trickle-down to local businesses and economies.

“NOAA estimates that 9,300 boats would be impacted, but Coast Guard data says 63,000 boats will be impacted,” Hugelmeyer said during his testimony. He said 340,000 jobs would be negatively affected and that $84 billion in revenues for the economies that rely on fishing and boating would be impacted. NOAA’s financial impact estimates were in the millions.

Fred Gamboa, a charter captain who operates three boats out of Point Pleasant, N.J., said his operation has run more than 1,000 trips since 2017, and he has boats that fall into the proposed size range. “I can’t take people fishing at a speed of 10 knots,” he testified. “My livelihood and the future of my business depend on [reversing] the proposal.”

Gamboa, when asked by committee members, said NOAA had not contacted him about the proposed changes. Hugelmeyer also said NOAA hadn’t contacted NMMA prior to the announcement of the proposed changes.

“Instead of engaging with these communities, NOAA chose to ram these policies through,” said Bruce Westerman, chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources. “The proposed rule would devastate boating communities. We can protect the right whale without resorting to extreme restrictions.”

The complete hearing can be viewed here.