Ship speed limit sought to protect endangered whales in Gulf

NEW ORLEANS — A speed limit for ships in part of the Gulf of Mexico south of the Florida Panhandle is needed to protect the few remaining endangered whales there, environmental groups said Tuesday.

The groups asked the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Service to set a 11.5 mph speed limit in an area covering about 11,500 square miles off Florida and Alabama.

Shipping interests did not immediately answer requests for comment on the petition, which also asks NOAA Fisheries to make all shipping detour around the whales’ core habitat at night.

The federal agency doesn’t comment on pending litigation, spokeswoman Allison Garrett said.

“One of the rarest, most endangered whales on the planet is in our backyard, and we have a responsibility to save it,” said Michael Jasny, director of the Marine Mammal Protection Project at the Natural Resources Defense Council, one of the groups.

There are fewer than 100 of the slender filter feeders, which were classified in January as a new species. Several other kinds of whales can be found in the Gulf, but Rice’s whales are the only baleen whales living there year-round.

Ships’ speeds range from 13 to 15-29 mph, according to an article on the Marine Insight website.

The Coast Guard’s navigation rules describe what must be considered in deciding a safe speed but those rules don’t include speed limits.

Ships should avoid the whales’ core habitat at night because Rice’s whales may spend much of that time near the surface, the petition said.

One tagged whale stayed within nearly 50 feet of the surface at night, diving deep during the day, according to the report in January.