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Whales May Get Protection From Ships

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The Washington Post

Published: July 19, 2008

WASHINGTON - A federal appeals court ruled Friday in favor of environmentalists seeking protection for the endangered North Atlantic right whale, giving those activists a victory in a long-running fight to prevent collisions of the giant mammals with ships.

The decision, from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, overturns a lower court decision that declined to order the U.S. Coast Guard to perform a review of the ways that cargo-ship traffic might endanger the whales. It marked the latest twist in a yearslong battle over whales and ships off the East Coast.
Environmental activists want ships to slow down in areas where whales congregate or go around them, but a proposed rule aimed at setting speed limits in whale areas has been held up by Bush administration officials for more than a year.

Friday's decision turned on issues of jurisdiction, and it did not formally order the Coast Guard to do anything. Instead, it remanded the matter back to a lower court.

Environmental groups said they were hopeful that the result of the decision would be a Coast Guard review resulting in a series of measures to protect whales from ships.

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