Rice’s whales are in the top 10 most at-risk ocean species

For the country’s most recently discovered whale, the end of the year brought news: Rice’s whales will now have the dubious honor of joining North Atlantic right whales and Southern Resident orcas on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) Species in the Spotlight list.

This top ten list highlights our nation’s ocean species most at-risk of extinction, and is intended to inspire support, action and funding to help address threats that put the endangered species at risk. For the Rice’s whale, threats come from oil and gas development in the Gulf of Mexico and vessel strikes. 

It’s not a list we ever want to see an animal land on: according to NOAA’s website on the program, species qualify if they are classified as a species “whose extinction is almost certain in the immediate future because of rapid population decline or habitat destruction, and its survival conflicts with construction, development, or economic activity.”

While this is a grim prognosis, we shouldn’t lose hope: we know that when we act, we have been able to bring species back from the brink.

Rice’s whales join Hawaiian monk seals, pictured here in Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, on NOAA’s Species in the Spotlight list.Photo by NOAA | Public Domain

Action is what the Species in the Spotlight list hopes to drive. Critters already on the list, including the Hawaiian monk seal and Pacific leatherback sea turtles, get action plans that lay out what actions we can take to reduce risk and put the species back on course for survival. This is undoubtedly helpful, but even the agency admits it can’t act alone: the plans lay out a roadmap, but they need support from Congress, the public and industry to ensure the spotlighted marine species don’t disappear.

While NOAA develops their action plan for Rice’s whales, we can and should do everything we can to keep these amazing whales with us–whether it’s preventing more drilling or slowing down boats in their best habitats.

If we do, hopefully someday Rice’s whales, or any marine species, won’t need this kind of spotlight just to survive