A coalition of conservation groups has asked a U.S. district court to keep vessel speed limits established to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales in place.
“We have speed limits near schools, crosswalks on busy roads, and traffic lights to make driving safer, and tickets are issued when drivers speed, ignore pedestrians, or blow through red lights because those behaviors increase the risk of someone getting hurt,” Regina Asmutis-Silvia, executive director of Whale and Dolphin Conservation, North America, said in a release. “Just like laws on the road, this vessel speed rule was based on factual data, and research found it to be effective, protecting both boaters and whales.”
The 2008 rule – which requires vessels above 65 feet in length to travel slowly through right whale “seasonal management areas” – is being challenged in court by a Florida boat captain who sped through one such area in a 110-foot-long superyacht in 2022. The captain was fined USD 14,250 (EUR 13,190) for the violation but later filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida to avoid paying. Represented by the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF), the captain argues that NOAA Fisheries did not have statutory authority to implement the vessel speed limit in the first place.
On 14 January, the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), Conservation Law Foundation, Defenders of Wildlife, and Whale and Dolphin Conservation filed a joint amicus brief asking the court to reject the lawsuit and keep the 2008 rule in place.
“There’s no question that the federal government has the legal authority to protect North Atlantic right whales by issuing this speed limit rule,” CBD Oceans Legal Director Kristen Monsell said in a release. “The speed limit rule has been in place for almost two decades and has no doubt saved the lives of critically endangered right whales. Each individual matters for the recovery of this species, and federal officials have a legal obligation to make sure protections are enforced.”
According to CBD, 27 North Atlantic right whales have been killed or injured by vessel strikes since 2017. A 2023 NOAA Fisheries analysis found that the species would likely go extinct without a significant reduction in entanglements and vessel strikes. Under then-U.S. President Joe Biden, the federal government pushed to expand the speed limit rule to cover vessels 35 feet in length and up, but the proposal was heavily opposed by the boating industry and U.S. lawmakers, who introduced measures in Congress to prevent the rule from going into place. However, the administration withdrew the rule in January 2025, claiming it did not have time to complete the rulemaking process before Biden left office.
“Intentionally speeding in areas identified as particularly risky for migrating right whales, especially vulnerable moms and newborn calves, is inexcusable,” Conservation Law Foundation Senior Counsel Erica Fuller said in a release. “Traveling at speeds that could kill an endangered whale cannot be the cost of doing business when transporting your yacht to Miami.”
A hearing in the case has been set for 10 April 2026.
