More than 150 boats were speeding near Virginia Beach before endangered whale was killed, report says

A new report from an ocean conservation group claims hundreds of boats were speeding in the days leading up to an endangered whale being found dead in Virginia Beach last month.

According to the report, the nonprofit Oceana’s Ship Speed Watch tool monitored vessels speeding off the Virginia Beach coast in the 11 days before the right whale was spotted floating off the shore. The report said more than 200 boats longer than 65 feet traveled through slow zones established by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay during that timeframe. Of those boats, 158 traveled above the speed limit of 10 knots — or 11.5 miles per hour — through mandatory or voluntary slow zones, the report says.

“Speeding boats and slow swimming whales are a recipe for disaster, but a preventable one,” Gib Brogan, campaign director at Oceana, said in a news release. “Current vessel speed limits are ineffective and made worse by the fact that they aren’t even properly enforced. NOAA knows this and has a pending new regulation that would update the slow zones established to protect the North Atlantic right whale.”

In February, a right whale — one of the world’s most endangered species of large marine mammals — was killed by a vessel strike and washed ashore in Virginia Beach. NOAA determined the whale suffered “catastrophic” blunt-force trauma, which damaged a large portion of its vertebral column. Injuries consistent with a vessel strike would have resulted in death shortly after the injury. The New England Aquarium identified the whale as right whale #3343, a 20-year-old male. Its last confirmed sighting was Dec. 26, 2022, off the coast of Georgia.

Whale #3343 was found dead near a port entrance. The port area has a 10-knot speed restriction in place, but it extends only 20 miles from the entrance. Military vessels and others under 65 feet in length are exempt. In 2022, NOAA proposed North Atlantic Right Whale seasonal speed zones, which would affect most boats 35 feet or longer. The modifications would change the boundaries and timing of current speed restrictions. Virginia Beach and other coasts in Hampton Roads and along the Eastern Shore would have speed restrictions from Nov. 1 to May 30, and most vessels 35 feet or longer would be required to travel at 10 knots or less within active proposed Seasonal Speed Zones.

Allison Ferreira, communications and internal affairs team supervisor for NOAA, said in an email that NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement and the Office of General Counsel have the primary responsibility for the enforcement of speed restrictions in U.S. waters. She said generally, NOAA does not comment on specific techniques on enforcing compliance, but the OLE does conduct enforcement activities.

“(The office of law enforcement) collaborates with the U.S. Coast Guard and multiple state partner agencies along the East Coast to promote compliance with any speed regulations by conducting patrols, operations, outreach, compliance assistance and investigations to deter and detect non-compliance,” Ferreira said.

According to NOAA Fisheries, the latest estimate suggests fewer than 350 right whales remain. There are likely fewer than 70 breeding females, and the number of new calves born in recent years has been below average. The normal life span for a right whale is about 70 years.

Eliza Noe, eliza.noe@virginiamedia.com