The North Atlantic right whale needs immediate results. New Jersey’s Congressional delegation must act.

The National Ocean and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA) says the right whale is closer to extinction than previously thought.

"Since 2017, there have been 36 dead right whales, 33 seriously injured and 45 sublethally injured or ill, as reported by NOAA Fisheries.

"The species is approaching extinction with fewer than 350 individuals remaining and fewer than 70 reproductively active females remaining,” the report reads." (July 21, 2023)

The leading causes of right whale deaths are entanglement in line/rope fishing gear used for lobster and Jonah crab and vessel strikes in U.S. and Canadian waters.

NOAA reports that the greatest risk of vessel strikes occurs in the mid-Atlantic and southern New England, particularly during colder months of the year when the majority of right whales are in U.S. waters.

That’s us: protecting the right whale falls squarely on New Jersey’s members of Congress and its citizens.

• The North Atlantic Right Whale will be functionally extinct by 2035.
• In Congress and administratively, the U.S. has allowed business interests to stymie the emergency rules needed to prevent extinction.
• Update: once again, politicians are using the federal budget bill to prevent protection for the world’s most endangered whale.
• As people risk their lives at sea to disentangle right whales from fishing gear, the Maine Congressional delegation, the lobster industry, and recreational boating interests block life-saving, emergency regulations, courtesy of the U.S. Congress.

We must fight lobbying with lobbying.