November 8, 2024: Southeastern Legal Foundation (SLF) just filed a petition with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) asking it to repeal an unconstitutional 2008 federal NOAA regulation on boat speed issued by NMFS under the guise of saving the whales. The Eastern Seaboard is still suffering from the unconstitutional overregulation of the federal government’s 2008 rule that even gave them the ability to issue criminal penalties against boats over 65-feet-long going over 10 knots. This means that a boater could face criminal penalties for going slower than the speed of an average golf cart.
As the SLF recent filing says, “NMFS estimates that the Vessel Speed Restriction Rule’s economic cost is between $30 and $40 million per year.” And according to NMFS’ own data, this massive cost has not reduced vessel strikes. That is why SLF is urging NMFS to “refocus its activities on technological advancements and voluntary cooperation and rescind the arbitrary and ineffective Rule.”
SLF’s filing to protect American’s right to enjoy the waters of the Atlantic by boating at a normal and safe speed said, “Put simply, the Rule has done nothing to help whales. NMFS’s data has shown at best ‘weak evidence’ that the Vessel Speed Restriction Rule was effective.” The $300 million NOAA has spent can much more wisely and effectively be used by deploying cutting edge technology that already exists—including satellite tagging, thermal imaging, and acoustic buoys—to alert boaters to a whale’s location.
Braden Boucek, SLF Vice President of Litigation, said, “When NOAA decided the best way to protect whales was through threatening people with fines and jail time, the technology was in a very different place. No one treasures the outdoors more than fishermen and boaters. NOAA is a consistent leader in innovation. Now that we have tools that do a better job of alerting mariners to objects in the water, the time is right for NOAA to work with them by giving them the information they need to protect marine life.”
Kim Hermann, SLF Executive Director, said, ““Environmental Conservation and protection of whales is a noble pursuit, however this does not need to be done through constitutional overreach. We see time and time again different administrations taking power that is not granted to them by Congress. Their 2008 Vessel Speed Rule is another example of this overreach and the rule must be repealed, or at the very least amended. Boaters have so many tools in their shed to ensure they are having the same effect of protecting whales without constant fear of criminal penalties and jail time.”
Read more about SLF’s Petition.