North Atlantic Fishing Boats Are Threatening Right Whales
APRIL 2, 2023 2:39 PM
Their population remains alarmingly low
BY TOBIAS CARROLL @TOBIASCARROLL
Could regulation make whales' lives easier?
Richard Sagredo/Unsplash
If you’re ever traveling off the Atlantic coast of North America or Europe and you see a massive shape in the water below you, it’s possible that you’ve encountered a right whale. That’s both a rare event and a disquieting one — there are believed to be fewer than 400 left in the wild, and the population trends surrounding them are not encouraging. What’s even more unsettling is the prospect that more could be done to protect these whales — but that efforts to do so are being blocked.
According to a new article from Undark (via The Atlantic), that’s precisely what’s taking place. As writer Darren Incorvaia explains, North Atlantic right whales have a tendency to swim near the surface of the ocean. Taken in tandem with the whales’ habitat being relatively close to land, this creates a situation where collisions with boats are more frequent than not.
Several agencies with governance over the waters in question have taken steps to reduce boat speeds in waters where the whales live, in the hopes of minimizing both collisions and the damage that collisions can do. Incorvaia cites a study by the group Oceana that suggests that many boats are disregarding speed limits on the water — thus putting whales (and potentially the boats) in danger. The article also cites numerous cases where fishing boat operators pushed back against potential regulation.
It does beg the question of whether more enforcement is necessary to protect the whales — and if so, what the best way to go about this would be. There are few easy answers, even as the whales’ lives remain at risk.
More:
https://www.insidehook.com/daily_brief/science/right-whales-threatened-fishing-boats
= new reply since forum marked as read
something along the lines of "It does beg the question of whether ..."
"Begging the question" is actually an entirely different thing from what so many people who use the expression ... seem to think it means.
I wish this recently-minted (and wrong) colloquialism would just die.
Then they also penned this silliness ... "collisions with boats are more frequent than not" ... a completely unknowable calculation, stated as fact. Gah!
Other than that ... I hope for the best for all our cetacean relatives, at all times 
by piddly details like this 
Feel like I grew up my whole life reading excellently composed writing, done by real professionals, but in the last 15 years or so ... so much of the writing I come across has gone to shit in varying degrees ... like almost nobody has real editors anymore 
