Report | August, 2024
Voters Overwhelmingly Support Increased Protections for North Atlantic Right Whales, Poll Finds
In July 2024, Oceana released the results of a new poll revealing that American voters support addressing ocean issues including the decline of North Atlantic right whales.
The key findings from registered voters polled on North Atlantic right whales include:
- 86% agree that North Atlantic right whales should be protected from human-caused threats to help prevent their extinction.
- 83% agree that ocean activities that endanger North Atlantic right whales, like shipping, boating, and vertical-line fishing, should be adapted to protect them.
- 84% support creating mandatory slow zones in the ocean when North Atlantic right whales are present to save them from deadly boat strikes.
- 81% support the U.S. government making policy changes to save North Atlantic right whales from going extinct.
- 67% are more likely to vote for a political candidate who supports policies to protect North Atlantic right whales from extinction.
The national online poll, conducted for Oceana by the nonpartisan polling company Ipsos using the probability-based KnowledgePanel®, surveyed 1,053 registered U.S. voters from June 28 to 30, 2024.
Fewer than 372 critically endangered North Atlantic right whales remain on Earth, including less than 70 breeding-age females. Each year these whales traverse the U.S. and Canadian east coast, swimming south to their calving grounds near Florida and Georgia and then back to New England and eastern Canada to feed and socialize. Along the way, they face two major threats to their survival which are the top causes of death: entanglements in fishing gear and collisions with boats. These preventable human-caused threats are pushing the species closer to extinction. Scientists estimate that if more than two North Atlantic right whales are killed every three years, the species will not recover.
In 2022, NOAA proposed new vessel speed rules to address the ongoing threat of boat strikes. The final rule has yet to be released and is currently under review at the White House. President Biden needs to act now to save North Atlantic right whales before it is too late.
Media Contact:
Megan Jordan, mjordan@oceana.org
