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Take Action to Stop a Poison Pill That Will Condemn Right Whales

Dear John,

As Congress works to finalize the Fiscal Year 2023 spending package, Sen. Collins (R-ME) is proposing concerning language related to the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan (ALWTRP). This rider would all but ensure the extinction of critically endangered North Atlantic right whales, nullify a federal court decision, and undermine the nation's bedrock environmental laws, setting a terrible precedent for future Congresses.

This language states that the ALWTRP Final Rule--which was implemented in September 2021--shall be deemed to be in compliance with both the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) for the next ten years. However, the 2021 rule is based on outdated data, and fails to reduce the risk of entanglement by a margin great enough to adequately protect North Atlantic right whales from entanglement, as mandated by those two laws.

By legislatively codifying that the measures put forth in this rule are in compliance with the ESA and MMPA, it undermines any obligation, legal requirement, or incentive to further alter management plans, modify entangling fishing gear, or take other protection measures for North Atlantic right whales. Allowing this text to become law will only open the door for similar legislative attempts to skirt our environmental laws in the future.

Without adequate protections under the MMPA and ESA, the status quo with North Atlantic right whales and gear entanglement will continue for the next decade. With only 340 of these whales remaining (and only about 90 females of reproductive age), we cannot afford to waste a decade in our fight to save right whales from extinction.

AWI, along with many other organizations, is strongly opposed to such a rider, or any similar provisions that would likewise undermine our strongest conservation laws and further endanger one of our most imperiled species.

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What You Can Do
Please use AWI's Action Center to contact House and Senate Democratic Leadership IMMEDIATELY and urge them to stop this poison pill in its tracks. ([link removed]) Share this action with family, friends, and co-workers, and encourage them take action too.

Sincerely,

Susan Millward
Executive Director

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Photo by NOAA Fisheries Christin Khan NEFSC

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Animal Welfare Institute
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The Animal Welfare Institute is a not-for-profit organization, founded in 1951 and dedicated to reducing animal suffering caused by people. We seek better treatment of animals everywhere: in the laboratory, on the farm, in commerce, at home, and in the wild.

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