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Article: Right whale report calls for regulations on ships: recommends speed, routing restrictions. (Northeast).(National Marine Fisheries Service report)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- National Fisherman
- Article date:
- December 1, 2001
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Diversified Publications. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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A draft report NMFS released on Aug. 1 recommends regulating the shipping industry to reduce right whale deaths caused by ship strikes.
Eighty percent of the right whale deaths for which a cause can be found have been attributed to ship strikes, yet since 1997 most regulations to protect the endangered whales have focused on fixed-gear fisheries.
Downeast Lobstermen's Association president Leroy Bridges has made it clear that fishermen alone can't save the whales. "I told [NMFS] that everything we do is for naught," he says, "if the shipping industry doesn't do something."
Mandatory ship reporting regulations took effect in 2000, but haven't ...