'Remarkable' IFAW Partnership to Protect Endangered Right Whales Receives Federal Funding

2/2/2004

From: Jennifer Ferguson-Mitchell of IFAW, 508-737-1584; e-mail: jfm@ifaw.org; web: http://www.ifaw.org

HYANNIS, Mass., Feb. 2 -- After more than a year and a half of efforts by IFAW (the International Fund for Animal Welfare - http://www.ifaw.org) working in partnership with Congressman Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.), Senator Edward Kennedy (D- Mass.), the Massachusetts Lobstermen's Association, and the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, Congress last week approved $685,000 in fiscal year 2004 funds that will make great strides towards saving the highly endangered North Atlantic right whale from extinction.

The North Atlantic right whale is one of the world's most rare whale species, numbering less than 350. Ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear are the two primary causes of right whale mortality. Unless immediate action is not taken to protect this important whale species, its future is very bleak.

The $685,000 approved by Congress will assist to fund an innovative project coordinated by IFAW, involving the Massachusetts Lobstermen's Association, and the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries.

The project would involve replacing whale-threatening, floating groundline currently used by Massachusetts lobstermen with more 'whale-safe' line that sinks, or hovers slightly above the sea floor. Current lines connect one pot to another on the ocean floor, and the slack from these lines floats, creating an entanglement hazard to right whales when they're diving and feeding. The new line does not float, making it safer for animals to travel through areas where lobster fishing occurs.

"This is a remarkable project that brings environmentalists together with the fishing industry and government to create a solution that benefits all," said Congressman Delahunt, who authored the original proposal.

"This is a win for fishermen and a win for whales," said IFAW President Fred O'Regan from the organization's international headquarters on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. "It is only by working together with the fishing industry and government that we can save these majestic creatures and create solutions that succeed."

IFAW is committed to protecting the highly endangered North Atlantic right whale, and has spent over $2 million in the last eight years on key right whale research and protection including acoustic studies and disentanglement efforts.

IFAW is seeking to raise private matching funds for the grant to cover additional project costs. To help make this possible and to support these important efforts to save whales, visit http://www.ifaw.org today.