Whale Protection Rule for Ships Moving Forward

The federal government is moving forward with a rule to protect endangered right whales from ship strikes along the East Coast.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is expected to announce this afternoon that it is filing a final environmental impact statement, one of the last steps in the process to implement long-awaited shipping restrictions.

The agency proposed a rule years ago requiring ships traveling parts of the East Coast to slow down to avoid colliding with endangered right whale. The rule has been delayed by an internal debate within the Bush administration about whether the benefits will outweigh the cost to the shipping industry. The industry has argued that the rule will make large ships harder to maneuver.

Ship strikes are considered the top human threat to the survival of right whales, one of the world's most endangered whales. Other existing and proposed rules have focused on another human threat -- entanglement in lobster and fishing gear.