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Scientists and environmental advocates are sounding the alarm against Trump administration changes that could put species like the North Atlantic right whale in harm’s way.
According to an internal memo from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service leaked earlier this month, a new interpretation of the Endangered Species Act would no longer make it illegal to accidentally kill or injure an endangered animal; the species would have to be the intended target.
Marine researchers and advocates say the new interpretation would drastically change how the federal government manages species like the right whale, whose top two causes of death are vessel strikes and fishing gear entanglements.
New England Aquarium Chief of Conservation and Stewardship Letise LaFeir called the new interpretation “reckless and negligent,” adding that the memo is part of a series of efforts to roll back the intended purpose of the Endangered Species Act.
“What this interpretation might allow is for a vessel to careen through a pod of feeding whales, strike those whales, and then say that wasn’t their intention,” LaFeir said.
This standard would never be applied in other areas of the law, she added.
“If I run a red light and get pulled over and say that I didn’t know red means stop, I would still get a ticket,” LaFeir said.
Mark Baumgartner, a senior scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, said the new interpretation is “very concerning.”
“Nearly all human-caused deaths of endangered marine species are accidental,” Baumgartner said in a statement.
Although North Atlantic right whales are the most critically endangered species in New England waters, the new federal interpretation would apply to all kinds of threatened and endangered species, from the piping plover to the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle. Some of these species are protected under state regulations, LaFeir said, but these state laws only apply up to three miles offshore, and don’t extend into federal waters where species like the right whale spend most of their time.
“Economic drivers, such as successful and sustainable domestic fisheries, depend on a healthy ocean — which in turn depends on healthy ecosystems.”
— New England Aquarium Chief of Conservation and Stewardship Letise LaFeir
The new rules would also allow the federal government to take economic impacts into account when managing endangered species. In a letter sent to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Brian Nesvik last December, LaFeir warned that short-term economic considerations could undermine the objective science needed to keep species from going extinct.
“Economic drivers, such as successful and sustainable domestic fisheries, depend on a healthy ocean — which in turn depends on healthy ecosystems,” LaFeir wrote. “As drafted, the proposed regulatory changes fail to recognize the potential economic benefits that a healthy ocean provides.”
The Fish and Wildlife Service did not respond to questions from The Light by the time of publication.
But for some in the state’s commercial fishing industry, the new rules represent an opening towards more “dynamic” fisheries management.
Beth Casoni is the executive director of the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association and a member of the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team, a federally established group devoted to mitigating the risk fishing gear poses to marine mammals like the right whale.
In Massachusetts in particular, large stretches of fishing grounds remain closed to lobstermen for most of the year. In some areas, these closures are necessary to accommodate right whale migrations, Casoni said, but in others, the documented right whale presence is minimal.
With the new federal guidelines and with the advances in right whale monitoring technology, Casoni said she would like to see more of these areas open to fishing in the future, particularly in the winter months when lobster prices are highest and lobstermen are most in need of work.
“No commercial lobsterman wants to intentionally harm anything, so this federal register notice would afford us the ability to articulate that,” Casoni said. “We are hoping that through smart management decisions, we’ll be able to have a more pliable management program.”
The changes to the Endangered Species Act came in mid-September, after the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) sent down new guidelines for fisheries management, in order to fall in line with a 2025 Trump administration executive order focused on the seafood industry.
That included a directive to consider “deprioritizing” ropeless fishing gear — a different set of equipment for fixed-gear fishing, like the type used by lobstermen. The New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) was close to taking action on a framework to implement the fishing gear last year, but decided not to.
“About 200 angry lobstermen showed up for the meeting and we decided to postpone final action,” NEFMC Executive Director Cate O’Keefe said during the council’s September meeting.
NOAA doubled down on the directive in its own policies aimed at underscoring the executive order, according to a memo released in early September. Rather than default to the most stringent regulations, NOAA’s guidelines instead recommend that policies focused on reducing Atlantic Large Whale deaths defer to the “best available science rather than worst-case scenario modeling.”
Legislation awaiting a vote by the U.S. Senate — HR 9436 — would extend the deadline to implement proposed right whale protection regulations from 2028 until 2035. Those regulations were aimed at protecting the endangered whales from certain equipment used in the lobster and crab fisheries.
Maine legislators and others voiced concerns that the proposed regulations “would cripple the lobster industry,” according to the bill’s text.
LaFeir said the bulk of these changes will have to be decided by the court system, the same courts that decided in 2024 that federal agencies did not have the authority to interpret gray areas of the law. But she also encourages the public to pressure their elected representatives and make their voices heard on Election Day.
While they may not seem as pressing as issues like the Iran War or healthcare costs, endangered species play a role in ensuring clean air, clean water, and overall environmental health, LaFeir explained.
“It’s important for people to understand that we humans are part of an ecosystem,” LaFeir said. “So when any one part of it is disrupted, there’s a ripple effect. And it’s hard to explain that when you don’t feel it day to day. But when their systems are broken, you start to understand it.”
Email Brooke Kushwaha at bkushwaha@newbedfordlight.org.
