October 16, 2023 — NOAA is stepping up enforcement of vessel speed limits when endangered North Atlantic right whales are on the move, using satellite technology and even highway patrol-style speed radar to nab violators.
In the period between 2021 and 2022, NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement (OLE) brought 19 complaints against vessel operators for exceeding a 10-knot speed limit that the agency declares in “seasonal management areas” from November to July as the right whales move off the U.S. East Coast. The agency levied USD 218,500 (EUR 207,000) in penalties on those operators.