Seeking to add new protections for the habitat's endangered right whales, NOAA Fisheries Service on Monday announced a vessel speed restriction zone in the vicinity of Jeffreys Ledge, which runs from about 10 miles due east of Cape Ann north-northeast for about 30 miles.
The action comes one week after the Humane Society of the United States and other environmental groups filed suit against NOAA Fisheries, asking a federal court in Massachusetts to hold the NOAA Fisheries accountable for continuing to allow four federal fisheries to injure and kill endangered whales, including the northern right whale.
NOAA Fisheries said there are less probably less than 400 northern right whales in today's ocean.
The suit argues that allowing fixed gear and ropes in the lobster, dogfish, monkfish and multispecies fisheries — ranging along the entire Atlantic Coast south to the Carolinas — puts whales in danger.
Read the complete story in The Gloucester Times