After two years of debate and 90,000 public comments, NOAA withdrew a contentious boat speed rule aimed at Atlantic right whale conservation.

NOAA proposed a speed change to certain water vessels in order to aid the critically endangered right whale population.

The proposed speed limits would have impacted all ferry service to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, as well as ferries from Boston to Provincetown.

After conservationists pushed for more, NOAA Fisheries withdrew a proposal that would have expanded boat speed limits and protected North Atlantic Right Whales.

NOAA has withdrawn vessel speed rule changes aimed at strengthening protections for North Atlantic right whales, drawing mixed reactions.

The proposed changes, which they argued could hurt the fishing and boating industries and other related businesses.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has withdrawn a proposed regulation intended to protect the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale from vessel strikes. The decision has left conservationists and Maine’s lobster industry expressing disappointment,

Federal regulators are abandoning a proposal to expand ocean speed limits that were designed to protect North Atlantic right whales. The whales, which give birth off Georgia’s coast in the winter, are nearing extinction;