North Atlantic right whales in the Cape Cod Canal. CapeCod.com
BARNSTABLE – More than $4.6 million dollars is being awarded to the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game’s Division of Marine Fisheries from a congressional appropriation through the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to enhance the conservation program for endangered North Atlantic right whales.
DMF will use the funding and an additional $475,000 grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), to help development of innovative fishing gear technologies, increase ongoing research and monitoring, and provide fishing gear to lobster industry participants to reduce harm to the right whales.
As part of a 5-year program, DMF anticipates receiving more than $23 million from NOAA Fisheries between now and the end of 2028 subject to annual congressional appropriations.
“We have a special responsibility to help these endangered animals, and to promote innovative measures to support whale recovery and Massachusetts’ important lobster industry,” said Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper.
“Massachusetts near-shore waters annually host up to 80 percent of the total population of North Atlantic right whales in late winter and early spring, as the whales migrate north and feed in the nutrient-rich waters of Cape Cod Bay and Massachusetts Bay. These funds are particularly beneficial to the small boat fishers who contribute so much to our economy, food security, and heritage of Massachusetts coastal communities,” Tepper said.
Under the U.S. Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, Congress appropriated $25 million to nine Atlantic Coast states from Maine to Massachusetts to support right whale recovery.
Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries has put together a spending plan for 2024, allocating $2.8 million for right whale research and monitoring, $1.1 million for on-demand gear research, and $472,000 for lobster gear to be used by lobster fishers to reduce entanglement risks.
DMF’s program will help researchers better understand the seasonal distribution and density of right whales in state and adjacent federal waters, as well as the seasonal distribution of fixed fishing gear in those areas.
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