The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration is proposing changes to protect endangered North Atlantic Right Whales but local leaders say they would result in dramatic cuts to ferry services.
NOAA wants to impose speed restrictions aimed at preventing collisions that would impact high-speed ferries and cause fewer trips.
Brooke Mohr, chair of the Nantucket Select Board, said the proposal would have a dramatic effect.
“Our community flocks to the South Shore and East Shore to see the whales breaching and delight in them but that’s not Nantucket Sound and that’s a totally different part of our geography,” she said.
The Steamship Authority agreed that they’ve never seen the whales where the Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket ferries run.
“A 30 percent reduction in the freight space, that’s our grocery store supplies, our home center supplies, our medicine, it’s everything,” Mohr added.
Opponents are asking for Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Sounds to be granted an exemption from the proposal.
NOAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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