The North Atlantic right whale population has been reduced to about 380, largely due to anthropogenic causes, or the result of human activity. To raise awareness of the population’s endangerment, MASSPIRG’s Save the Whales campaign uses various educational techniques to inform students and local communities about the threat of extinction for right whales.
Sadie McAllister, a sophomore natural resources conservation major, said that some of the campaign’s educational techniques include tabling, social media posts and collaborations with student-run businesses like Sweets and More.
“We have students sign petitions to show that there is a public concern about North Atlantic right whales,” McAllister said. “We give them a rundown of our campaign, what we’re trying to do and how them signing the petition will help protect the whales.”
Senior public health major Olivia McClurken, coordinator for Save the Whales, said that tabling helps raise awareness of a serious issue by making it understandable to the general public.
“A lot of the work that we do here on campus is educating students about the cause, what’s happening with the whales and additionally how to make sure that the whales are saved,” McClurken said.
In addition to educating UMass students about the issue, Save the Whales aims to teach the wider Amherst community about the cause. One way they do so is by giving presentations to elementary school students. The campaign’s educational initiatives raise awareness for harmful factors to the right whale population, such as vessel collisions and lobster netting.
“In the past we have worked on education, specifically on reducing lobster net entanglements and educating on other ways to lobster-hunt,” McClurken said.
The campaign also promotes the use of ropeless lobster gear to avoid right whale entanglements. According to McClurken, though the gear is currently relatively inaccessible to fishermen, raising awareness of it can make it more available.
“With more education about it and it being subsidized, we can hopefully make it a more accessible product for other people to use,” McClurken said.
Save the Whales supports the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The National Ocean Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) created the Act in 2008 to regulate the speed of vessels in areas dense with right whales.
In March, the NOAA announced that they were reviewing potential deregulatory action to the vessel speed rule to modify and modernize whale protections. McClurken said that changes being made to the act should be scientifically backed and supported by people who work in the blue economy, including fishermen and lobstermen.
“The whale population is so fragile as it is, any changes currently being made to that law might reduce the population again,” McClurken said.
After the population experienced a sharp decline in the 2010s, the North Atlantic right whale population increased by 2.1% from 2023 to 2024. There have also been frequent sightings of the North Atlantic right whales off the oceans of Cape Cod, with 70 right whales being spotted off the island of Nantucket.
“They’re very much a rare sight to see [in Cape Cod],” McClurken said. “A lot of students here, no matter where they’re from, can relate to going to the beach, or seeing a whale, or just being around marine life in general,” McClurken said.
To further support the marine life, Save the Whales went to the Massachusetts State House in Boston to speak to legislators, discussing the importance of legislation to support right whales. According to McClurken, there are currently no laws at the state or federal level to help increase the right whale population.
Despite the lack of legislation, Save the Whales continues to push for it through raising awareness of the issue.
“Spreading awareness about species that are struggling is a good reminder for everybody that climate change is real … and there are things that people can do to fix it,” Harper Schramm Kelley, a freshman environmental science major, said.
Isabella Kosiba can be reached at [email protected].
