Groups Sue Over Decision to Remove Protections for Whales

WASHINGTON – Defenders of Wildlife and The Humane Society of the United States filed suit yesterday over the National Marine Fisheries Service's decision to roll back protections for critically endangered North Atlantic right whales, humpbacks and fin whales. The agency's decision removes older protections deemed necessary to protect whales from deadly entanglement in fishing gear, and at the same time delays new, more protective requirements. The resulting gap in protections puts whales at serious risk of entanglement for a full six months.

"After stalling more than three years to announce new rules to reduce whale entanglements, the Bush administration now wants to delay even further," said Sierra Weaver, staff attorney for Defenders of Wildlife. "Even worse, at the same time they're delaying new measures, they're getting rid of old ones. Right whales especially cannot withstand this type of gamble. It's reckless and irresponsible to leave the most endangered large whale on the planet unprotected in this way."