Agenda Text
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Supporting Federal efforts to save the North American Right Whale.
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Official Text
WHEREAS: The North Atlantic right whales have been hunted since the 11th century; and
WHEREAS: Once numbering in the tens of thousands, the right whale population has dwindled to 411, with fewer than 100 reproductive-aged females left alive and no new births observed in 2018; and
WHEREAS: The carcasses of more than 20 whales have been found over the last two years; and
WHEREAS: The remaining population of right whales is immediately threatened by human activity; and
WHEREAS: Without action, the North Atlantic right whale as a species will be extinct in our lifetime; and
WHEREAS: Federal legislation known as the Scientific Assistance for the Very Endangered (SAVE) Right Whales Act, sponsored by Congressman Seth Moulton and co-sponsored by Congressman Bill Keating has been endorsed by the International Fund for Animal Welfare; and
WHEREAS: This act would provide the development and adoption of innovative solutions and technology to reduce the leading causes of right whale deaths: commercial fishing entanglements and collisions with shipping vessels; and
WHEREAS: The act would provide critical funding for whale-safe gear that would ensure an ocean that sustains both the right whale and a viable lobster industry for the hardworking Massachusetts residents, who make a living on the water; and
WHEREAS: The permanent loss of an entire species is a blow to the ocean’s ecosystem that our coastal communities will witness firsthand; and
WHEREAS: As a coastal community, we have a responsibility as marine stewards to prevent this ecological tragedy; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT
RESOLVED: That the Somerville City Council supports the efforts at the Federal level of the SAVE Right Whales Act.