Feds to expand right whale protected areas

Under a deal between environmentalists and the federal government, the "critical habitat" for the endangered North Atlantic right whale will be expanded.

Designating more critical habitat would limit fishing activities and force projects to minimize effects on the whale during port expansions, dredging, sonar use, offshore alternative energy and other activities within its habitat.

The agreement, filed on Friday in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, sets a February 2016 deadline for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to determine where and how much more ocean habitat should be protected for the whale.

"There is a heightened level of scrutiny for any activity that goes on there," said Sarah Uhlemann, a senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, the nonprofit that led the legal action against NOAA. "This would add a new layer of protections and a new layer of scrutiny for those projects to go through."

The conservation groups want NOAA Fisheries to expand areas considered the whale's "critical" habitat, last designated in 1994. Those areas extend from Maine to Sebastian.

The environmental groups filed a petition in September 2009 asking NOAA to widen those areas. It would about double the width of the area that extends from the shore east off Brevard, and widen it even more north of Florida.

The groups want to extend the areas by varying degrees, depending on where biologists say the whales frequent. In Florida, right whale critical habitat extends about 5 ¹/₂ nautical miles from shore, widening to about twice that distance near the Georgia border. The groups proposes to more than double or triple that distance the critical habitat areas extend from shore, with the larger protected areas in North Florida.

The other groups involved include the Humane Society of the United States, Defenders of Wildlife and Whale & Dolphin Conservation.

The groups want the critical habitat area enlarged because information in the last several years shows right whales use more habitat than previously thought.

Some 400 to 500 right whales remain. Hunters once sought the whale for its rich oil content, dubbing it the "right" whale to hunt. They swam slow, close to shore and floated when killed. They grow to 60 feet and 100 tons.

Right whales, which migrate back and forth from Canada to Florida, face threats from fishing nets and lines, large vessels and sonar.

Federal law requires people keep at least 500 yards from the endangered species.

The Marine Resources Council, based in Palm Bay, keeps watch off the coast for whales each winter and spring.

Since 1994, hundreds have reported whale sightings that warn harbor pilots and captains to beware, especially in waters near Port Canaveral. The ships and whales share the same travel routes.

Contact Waymer at 321-242-3663, jwaymer@floridatoday.com or on Twitter at @JWayEnviro

Learn about right whales

http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/mammals/cetaceans/rightwhale_northatlantic.htm