Fast ferries to Cape and Islands could be in jeopardy if speed limits cut to protect right whales
HYANNIS – The familiar "beep" of a ferry boat off the coast of Hyannis often signals a summer vacation, but for most of the year – it's actually a lifeline for industry on the island.
"I work on the island and live over here," on the mainland, Amos Campbell told WBZ-TV as he waited for a ferry Monday to go to work on Nantucket. He takes the fast passenger ferry twice a week.
That commute, and those of others who rely on ferry service in the off-season, is under threat due to proposed environmental regulation.
What is the ferry speed limit?
A proposed rule update by NOAA Fisheries would drastically cut speed limits along the routes the ferries run between the Cape and Islands from November 1 to May 30. The rule update would apply to all boats in that time frame that are over 35 feet in length and would reduce speed limits to 10 knots. For context, the fast ferries currently run around 30 knots and the "slow" car ferries run around 13 knots – so this speed restriction would affect all running passenger and cargo ferries.
Protecting endangered right whales
The rule change, which has been in the works for years but is recently garnering more attention as it heads to the final planning stage, is designed to protect the endangered right whale species.
"Right now, there are only about 360 individual [right whales] remaining and only about 70 breeding females," explained Dr. Jessica Redfern, the Associate Vice President of Ocean Conservation Science at the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium.
"I can help people understand through one example, when we tell you the story of just one whale. Her name was Wart," Dr. Redfern explained. "Through her own children and her children's children was responsible for contributing 29 right whales to the population. So, you can see how the loss of a female is much more than the loss of just one whale, right? It's all the future population growth opportunity that gets lost with that female."
According to her research, vessel strikes (paired with entanglement in fishing gear) is the leading human-driven cause of death for right whales. Studies have shown that reducing vessel speeds to 10 knots or less can save the endangered species.
Fast ferry companies furious
However, those who run ferry companies from the Cape to the islands say this is an overcorrection, and stress that their captains have never had a right whale sighting in their decades in business.
The general manager of the Steamship Authority recently met with Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey and Representative Bill Keating to discuss the issue.
"The Authority remains strongly opposed to changing the current Seasonal Management Areas and the implementation of mandatory speed restrictions, as was stated in its letter of October 28, 2022," said spokesperson Sean Driscoll in a letter to WBZ.
"It is the Authority's understanding that NOAA has recommended the rule be implemented to the Office of Management and Budget. If that process proceeds, there will be another comment period, at which time the Authority will restate and share its concerns about the rule and the drastic effects it would have on the Authority's ability to provide lifeline service to the islands."
Ferry service drastically reduced
WBZ also spoke with Murray Scudder, the president of Hy-Line Cruises, by telephone. He told WBZ the proposed regulation would eradicate his business, since it operates only high-speed ferries that are not designed to go as slowly as 10 knots.
In the offseason, if the proposed regulation was passed, Hy-Line ferries would not run in the off-season. The Steamship Authority would have to cancel all fast passenger ferries and reduce the three car ships a day down to two to calculate for reduced speeds from 13-to-14 knots to 10.
"That would certainly devastate our local economy, and probably set us back, you know, 40 or 50 years from an economical standpoint," said Rob Ranney, who lives on Nantucket and serves on the governing board of the Steamship Authority.
"There are people who actually work on Nantucket during the day who come over first thing in the morning on a fast boat, and return in the evening as their normal commute, that, you know you would normally see people on the highway, for these people are on these boats," he explained. "That would take away all those people that are doing that from construction workers to you know visiting nurses at the hospital to the school teachers."
Ferry to Provincetown could end
The new speed limit would also affect all large boats off the coast of Massachusetts, including the Bay State Cruise ferry to Provincetown.
"There has been a ferry between Boston and Provincetown since the 1840s. Should the rule pass as proposed, however, that ferry route may end, and with it, a life blood of commerce for the town of Provincetown," Michael Glasfield of Bay State Cruise Company told WBZ.
"[P]ermitting the ferries to continue to operate as they have in the past will not cause harm to the North American Right Whale population," he added. "The proposed rule, while perhaps making sense in other regions of the country, over-reaches the facts and data of the Cape region."
The regulation received 90,000 public comments, which will be reviewed before it moves forward. There will also be another period for public comment before any regulation is passed.