What the right whale speed rule actually requires, and doesn't
If you sail the US East Coast, you've probably heard something about right whale speed restrictions, and there's a decent chance what you heard is out of date or was never quite accurate. Here's the actual timeline, because I think the specifics matter more than the general anxiety around this one.
The standing rule, in place since 2008, requires vessels 65 feet and longer to slow to 10 knots or less inside designated seasonal management areas along the East Coast, timed to when North Atlantic right whales are known to be present. NOAA estimates this rule cuts mortality risk to the whales from vessel strikes by roughly 90 percent where it applies. That's the rule that's actually in force today.
In 2022, NOAA proposed expanding it, dropping the length threshold from 65 feet to 35 feet and extending the seasonal window to as much as seven months of the year in some zones. That expansion would have pulled a lot of recreational sailboats into a mandatory rule for the first time. After roughly 90,000 public comments, NOAA withdrew the proposal in January 2025, citing insufficient time to finalize a rule of that scope and volume of feedback. The 65-foot rule stayed exactly as it was.
This March, NOAA opened a new advance notice of proposed rulemaking, asking whether the current seasonal zones should be replaced with something more targeted: dynamic, technology-based measures that could adjust to where whales actually are, rather than fixed calendar dates and fixed boxes on a chart. The comment period on that notice has closed, and as of this writing, no final decision has been announced. It's a real possibility that the rule looks different a year from now. It just doesn't yet.
So here's where that leaves you, plainly. If you sail something under 65 feet, you are not bound by the mandatory speed rule in these zones today, and you likely won't be under the rule NOAA is currently considering either, since this round of proposed changes hasn't reintroduced the 35-foot threshold. Slowing down anyway, when you're transiting a seasonal management area, is voluntary, and NOAA does ask smaller vessels to do it. It's a good habit for a reason that has nothing to do with enforcement. But it's a choice you're making, not a rule you're breaking if you don't. Know the difference, and watch for whatever NOAA decides next, because this is genuinely still in motion.
What counts as a "seasonal management area"?
Specific coastal zones along the US East Coast where right whales are known to gather at certain times of year. The mandatory speed rule only applies inside these zones, during their active season, not everywhere on the coast year-round.
Is this rule the same in Canadian waters?
No, this article covers NOAA's US rule specifically. Canada has its own separate right whale protection measures in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, run by Transport Canada and Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
What happens if the new rule reintroduces a lower length threshold?
If NOAA's current rulemaking process eventually proposes covering smaller vessels again, it would go through its own public comment period before taking effect, the same process the 2022 proposal went through before being withdrawn. Nothing changes overnight without that process.
Sources
- "Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking To Amend the North Atlantic Right Whale Vessel Strike Reduction Rule", Federal Register, 2026-03-04
- "Withdrawn: NOAA's North Atlantic Right Whale Vessel Strike Reduction Rule", Yachting Magazine (2025 withdrawal, 90,000 comments, insufficient time to finalize)
- "Reducing Vessel Strikes to North Atlantic Right Whales", NOAA Fisheries (standing 65ft/10-knot rule, ~90% mortality risk reduction)
