New Permanent Ocean Speed Limit Protects Whales

The Obama administration has instituted lower speed limits on seafaring vessels that are 65 feet or longer in select ocean territories as a way to aid the recovery of endangered whale species populations. The speed limit was first reduced five years ago as a tentative measure, but was made a permanent law days before its December 9, 2013 expiration date. According to the Humane Society of the United States, the federal government cites large ship collisions and commercial fishing gear entanglements as the greatest detriments to the ocean mammals’ struggle to regain their numbers, but since the speed-reduction law was imposed in 2008, there have been zero deaths reported within a 40-mile radius of the speed limit zone.