Dire Straits in the Gulf: Using the Endangered Species Act to Better Protect the World's Rarest Whale from Industrial Threats

The Rice’s whale has been threatened by human activities for far longer than it has been known to science. The oil industry and vessel traffic are particularly grave threats to this species, especially considering the noise pollution caused by both. Unfortunately, every measure intended to protect the Gulf of Mexico’s only endemic baleen whale is met with fervent opposition from extremely influential stakeholders, making the already challenging recovery of the Rice’s whale nearly impossible. Despite this, the Endangered Species Act allows for drastic government action when a species is so imminently threatened with extinction. The National Marine Fisheries Service has an unambiguous statutory mandate to combat any threats to the endangered Rice’s whale. As such, NMFS should learn from its previous attempts and implement a variety of conservation measures, with careful consideration of their potential value and odds of success. Specifically, NMFS should finalize the Rice’s whale’s recovery plan and critical habitat, as well as strengthen its Biological Opinion for oil and gas activities and accompanying RPA. NMFS should also use the conservation plan provision of Section 7 and the emergency provision of Section 4 to immediately provide more support for its conservation measures for this species. Finally, NMFS and BOEM should pursue technology that makes oil and gas surveying less harmful to whales and fully consider climate change impacts when making decisions about the future of the Gulf. Resistance to the implementation of these measures is inevitable, but time is of the essence. The Rice’s whale is on track to become the first baleen whale lost to extinction in human history; NMFS must step up and effectively utilize the ESA—our strongest environmental law—to save this critically endangered species.