The beloved and majestic North Atlantic right whale is still on the brink of extinction, and time after time when legislation is proposed to protect it, Congress fails to act. But the whales cannot wait any longer -- there are fewer than 340 whales remaining in the wild, and some recent birthing seasons have ended without a single newborn calf.
Sign now to demand that the House and Senate pass this crucial legislation to protect North Atlantic right whales!
Senator Cory Booker has introduced the Right Whale Coexistence Act, which would codify into law the U.S.'s commitment to saving the species' North Atlantic population. Of the small population that remains, fewer than 100 are breeding females. We must act now to protect every single remaining right whale if we hope to recover their population.
At their peak, estimates suggest there were over 21,000 North Atlantic right whales in the sea. Yet by the 1920s, the populations had plummeted to under 100 -- in large part because of horrific practices like whale hunting. Banning hunting helped increase their population again to close to 500, but recent drops are extremely alarming. Losing almost 10% of a critically endangered species in a single year is a wake up call: we must act to protect these whales before it is too late.
The two leading causes of death among right whales are human-induced and thus, preventable: collisions with vessels and entanglement in fishing gear. If humans are the cause of such dramatic and devastating population decline, humans are responsible for acting and saving the whales that remain. We can save the North Atlantic right whale population if we act now! Sign the petition to put pressure on Congress to pass Cory Booker's historic Right Whale Coexistence Act!
