The Steamship Authority’s (SSA) general manager, Robert Davis, traveled to the nation’s capital last week to take a stance against the proposed federal regulations that would force some boaters to reduce speeds to protect North Atlantic right whales.
Davis was in D.C. on Wednesday, March 20, to discuss the issue with U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, U.S. Rep. William Keating, and staffers from U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s office, according to SSA communications director Sean Driscoll.
The Steamship has maintained that the reductions would impact service to the Islands, even forcing it to cut back on the number of trips they could bring each day. Officials with the transportation service also say that they’ve never seen a right whale during their trips.
Earlier this month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) submitted the proposed regulations to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, a division of the Office of Management and Budget that reviews executive branch regulations.
NOAA’s proposal is an amendment to its current regulations meant to protect critically endangered North Atlantic right whales from vessel strikes — a leading cause of right whale deaths. Currently, NOAA regulations require vessels 65 feet or longer to travel no faster than 10 knots, or around 11 mph, in areas designated as “seasonal management areas” during certain times of the year.
With the amendments, originally proposed in 2022, the rule would be expanded to include vessels 35 feet or longer, while also increasing the size of the slow zone areas across the East Coast, including Vineyard Sound. The proposal would put SSA’s route to Martha’s Vineyard within the restrictions between Nov. 1 and May 30.
The Steamship says that the proposal would slow down ferries enough so they would have to cut down the number of Vineyard trips each day. The SSA’s traditional ferries travel at 12 to 13 knots.
But the impacts on the Nantucket route would be felt even more. The Steamship’s fast ferry travels to Nantucket at 30 knots.
“The Authority remains strongly opposed to changing the current seasonal management areas and the implementation of mandatory speed restrictions, as was stated in a Steamship letter of Oct. 28, 2022,” a recent statement from the SSA reads. “It is the Authority’s understanding that NOAA has recommended the rule be implemented to the Office of Management and Budget. If that process proceeds, there will be another comment period, at which time the Authority will restate and share its concerns about the rule and the drastic effects it would have on the Authority’s ability to provide lifeline service to the Islands.”
The SSA also objected to the measure in its letter by saying right whales have never been encountered by their ferries during the more than 60 years the authority has run its service.
