Local News

New voluntary slow zone off Nantucket to protect whales

NOAA has asked mariners to avoid the slow zone area altogether or travel through it at 10 knots or less.

The slow zone is designed to protect North Atlantic right whales, that was previously thought to become extinct. Marianna Hagbloom (New England Aquarium)

By Associated Press

Don't Kill The Whale

NANTUCKET, Mass. (AP) — Federal officials are implementing a new slow zone off Massachusetts to try to protect a rare species of whale.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration created the slow zone south of Nantucket on Sept. 11. It’s designed to protect North Atlantic right whales and will be in effect until Sept. 26.

The whales number only about 360 and they are vulnerable to collisions with ships. NOAA has asked mariners to avoid the slow zone area altogether or transit through it at 10 knots or less.

The whales are also the impetus for new restrictions on the East Coast lobster and crab fishing industries because they are vulnerable to entanglement in fishing gear.

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