Urgent Industry Partner Request: Maintaining Voluntary Speed Limits to give Safer Passage to the North Atlantic Right Whale

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is currently considering modifications to the North Atlantic right whale vessel speed rule, opening a public comment period through June 2, 2026. The proposed initiative explores replacing seasonal 10-knot speed restrictions with alternative management areas and advanced technology-based strike-avoidance measures. While technological modernization is a promising long-term goal, the maritime industry must confront a stark current reality: the necessary whale-detection technologies are not yet widely available, reliable, or accessible to most commercial vessels. The NMFS is unlikely to be providing them to the industry any time soon.  Until these advanced tools are fully operational and deployed across the fleet, maintaining voluntary compliance with current speed restrictions is the only viable way to prevent the extinction of this critically endangered species.

The argument for slowing down rests on basic physics and biological reality. At faster transit speeds, a vessel’s response time is severely compromised. Large ocean-going ships cannot turn or stop quickly enough to avoid a whale sighted at close range, making reactive maneuvering an unsafe and mathematically unviable option. Furthermore, study after study has shown that the probability of a lethal strike drops drastically when vessels operate at or below 10 knots. High-speed transits transform predictable shipping lanes into lethal gauntlets for the remaining population of fewer than 360 individuals.

Voluntary compliance is more than an environmental gesture; it is a critical bridge to the hopes of a technology-driven future. But we have not arrived in that future yet. Relying on tools that are not yet standard on the average bridge deck creates a regulatory gap that puts a vulnerable species at risk. 

The founders of Whale Guardians and Great Whale Conservancy request urgently that Maritime leaders who are committed to health of the Blue Ecology as the route to a better Blue Economy have an opportunity to demonstrate proactive stewardship by maintaining lower speeds in known whale habitats, proving that commercial interests and conservation goals can coexist.