Biden Proposal Limiting Boat Speeds To Protect Right Whales Triggers Concern

“This is a beach-town Armageddon,” said Freddy Gamboa as he walked down the dock at Clarks Landing Marina in Point Pleasant, New Jersey. “No one is going to want to get on this boat” if can go only up to 10 knots, he said as he motioned to the three Yamaha 300s on the stern of his motorboat.

And he may be right. The Yamahas can get his 36-foot Contender up to a speed of 65 mph.

But a new rule proposed by the Biden administration under the auspices of The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) would limit that speed to 11 mph for his and every other boat longer than 35 feet. The speed restriction, designed to protect the endangered right whale, would stay in effect for up to seven months out of the year and as far out as 100 miles off the East Coast.