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North Atlantic right whale vessel speed restrictions reduce the likelihood of lethal collisions between vessels and these endangered whales.
Endangered North Atlantic right whales are at heightened risk for vessel strikes because they spend a lot of time at or close to the water surface. Vessel strikes are a primary threat to the species.
Right whales can be very difficult to spot from a boat due to their dark color and lack of a dorsal fin. Environmental conditions like bad weather, poor sea state, murky water, and low light can impact your ability to see these whales.
This visualization illustrates the risk right whales face every day. It shows the migratory path of a 1-year-old right whale satellite-tagged off the Virginia/North Carolina coast in March 2021. The whale (red dot) traveled north along the Mid-Atlantic coast, overlapping with heavy vessel traffic (blue dots) and busy port entrances. In fact, the visualization shows only a portion of the actual vessel traffic—those vessels equipped with Automatic Identification Systems (AIS).
NOAA Fisheries works closely with our partners and stakeholders to further efforts to conserve and rebuild the North Atlantic right whale population, including by using existing management measures and technological innovation and partnerships to help reduce the risk of vessel strikes.
Most vessels 65 feet or longer must travel at 10 knots or less in certain locations (called Seasonal Management Areas) along the U.S. East Coast at certain times of the year. This mandatory regulation reduces the likelihood of deaths and serious injuries to endangered North Atlantic right whales that result from collisions with vessels. Vessels of all sizes can strike a whale, so we encourage vessels less than 65 feet long to help protect right whales by slowing to 10 knots or less within these areas as well.
To monitor compliance with vessel speed regulations, we developed an interactive speed zone dashboard. Users can explore the dashboard to view vessel traffic by speed, season, month, speed zone, and vessel type.
Includes all waters of Cape Cod Bay with Northern Boundary of 42º04’56.5″N, 070º12’W to 42º12’N, 070º12’W then due west back to shore.
Separate from the federal speed regulations in the Cape Cod Bay SMA, Massachusetts state law requires most vessels less than 65 feet to travel at 10 knots or less in the Cape Cod Bay Vessel Speed Restriction Area from March 1 to April 30. In 2025, the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) extended speed restrictions through May 15, 2025, due to the continued presence of right whales in Cape Cod Bay. Please visit the Massachusetts DMF website for information on state speed restrictions and advisories.
42º04’56.5″N, 070º12’W
42º12’N, 070º12’W
42º12’N, 070º30’W
42º30’N, 070º30’W
42º30’N, 069º45’W
41º40’N, 069º45’W then due west back to shore.
42º30’N, 069º45’W
42º30’N, 067º27’W
42º09’N, 067º08’24″W
41º00’N, 069º05’W
41º40’N, 069º45’W then back to starting point.
40º51’53.7″ N 070º36’44.9″ W
41º20’14.1″ N 070º49’44.1″ W
41º04’16.7″ N 071º51’21.0″ W
40º35’56.5″ N 071º38’25.1″ W then back to starting point.
-Ports of New York/New Jersey:
40º29’42.2″N 073º55’57.6″W
-Entrance to the Delaware Bay
(Ports of Philadelphia and Wilmington):
38º52’27.4″N 075º01’32.1″W
-Entrance to the Chesapeake Bay
(Ports of Hampton Roads and Baltimore):
37º00’36.9″N 075º57’50.5″W
-Ports of Morehead City and Beaufort, NC: 34º41’32.0″N 076°40’08.3″W
A- 34º10’30″N, 077º49’12″W
B- 33º56’42″N, 077º31’30″W
C- 33º36’30″N, 077º47’06″W
D- 33º28’24″N, 078º32’30″W
E- 32º59’06″N, 078º50’18″W
F- 31º50’00″N, 080º33’12″W
G- 31º27’00″N, 080º51’36″W
and west back to the shore.
Vessel speed is restricted in the area bounded to the north by latitude 31º27’N; to the south by latitude 29º45’N; to the east by longitude 080º51’36″W.
Right Whale Slow Zones and Dynamic Management Areas (DMAs) are voluntary programs NOAA Fisheries uses to notify vessel operators to slow down to avoid right whales. Maintaining speeds of 10 knots or less can help protect right whales from vessel collisions. Under these programs, NOAA Fisheries provides maps and coordinates to vessel operators indicating areas where right whales have been detected. For a period of 15 days after a whale is detected, mariners are encouraged to avoid these areas or reduce speeds to 10 knots or less while transiting through these areas.
NOAA Fisheries establishes DMAs based on visual sightings of three or more right whales within a discrete area. Right Whale Slow Zones are based on both visual and acoustic triggers. They are identical to DMAs when triggered by right whale visual sightings.
NOAA Fisheries announces Right Whale Slow Zones and DMAs to mariners through our communication channels and lists zones below. The most recent designation is listed first.
All boaters from Maine to Florida, or interested parties, can sign up for email or text notifications about the latest Right Whale Slow Zones. You can also follow us on Facebook (@NOAAFisheriesNEMA) and X (@NOAAFish_GARFO and @NOAAFisheriesSE) for announcements.
You can check for Right Whale Slow Zones on our online right whale sightings map. Or, you can download the free Whale Alert app, which will automatically notify you when you enter one of these areas.
Waters bounded by:
Northern Boundary: 40°31′ N
Southern Boundary: 40°01′ N
Eastern Boundary: 72°53′ W
Western Boundary: 73°33′ W
Waters bounded by:
Northern Boundary: 41°04′ N
Southern Boundary: 40°32′ N
Eastern Boundary: 70°08′ W
Western Boundary: 70°50′ W
Waters bounded by:
Northern Boundary: 40°55′ N
Southern Boundary: 40°21′ N
Eastern Boundary: 69°28′ W
Western Boundary: 70°24′ W
Waters bounded by:
Northern Boundary: 39°20′ N
Southern Boundary: 38°49′ N
Eastern Boundary: 73°51′ W
Western Boundary: 74°30′ W
Waters bounded by:
Northern boundary: 38°34′ N
Southern boundary: 38°03′ N
Eastern boundary: 74°19′ W
Western boundary: 74°58′ W
Waters bounded by:
Northern boundary: 29°16′ N
Southern boundary: 28°41′ N
Eastern boundary: 80°31′ W
Western boundary: 81°10′ W
Waters bounded by:
Northern boundary: 29°41′ N
Southern boundary: 29°05′ N
Eastern boundary: 80°46′ W
Western boundary: 81°23′ W
Waters bounded by:
Northern boundary: 29°59′ N
Southern boundary: 29°28′ N
Eastern boundary: 80°43′ W
Western boundary: 81°19′ W
In 2013, NOAA Fisheries committed to publish a report evaluating the conservation value and economic and navigational safety impacts of the 2008 North Atlantic right whale vessel speed regulations (50 CFR § 224.105). The report was finalized in June 2020 and evaluates four aspects of the right whale vessel speed rule: biological efficacy, mariner compliance, impacts to navigational safety, and economic cost to mariners. It also provides a detailed assessment of the rule’s effectiveness, and assesses general trends in vessel traffic characteristics within Seasonal Management Areas over time.
NOAA Fisheries solicited public comment on the speed rule assessment. The comment period closed at the end of March 2021 and we are posting comments received for public reference.
Technology has the potential to reduce the risk of vessel collisions with marine life like North Atlantic right whales. With partners, NOAA Fisheries is working to develop and implement new and existing technologies.
Learn about our investments in risk reduction technologies
NOAA and partners are using an existing maritime safety technology—the Automated Identification System—in a new way to reduce the risk of vessel strikes for North Atlantic right whales. This collaborative effort is building a real-time alert network along the U.S. East Coast, powered by AIS technology. The network delivers timely text messages to vessels transiting at a speed over the 10-knot limit within Seasonal Management Areas.
Find out more about the AIS messaging network
Vessel routing recommendations to reduce collisions with North Atlantic right whales will soon be available on all NOAA Electronic Navigation Chart products.
For ships weighing 300 gross tons or more, a voluntary seasonal Area To Be Avoided (ATBA) is in effect each year from April 1 to July 31, when right whales face their highest risk of ship strikes in this area.
The North-South lanes of the Traffic Separation Scheme servicing Boston were narrowed from 2 miles to 1.5 miles (consistent with the East-West Boston Traffic Separation Scheme lanes) to reduce vessel collisions with whales.
NOAA established recommended vessel routes in four locations to reduce the likelihood of ship collisions in key right whale habitats in Massachusetts, Georgia, and Florida.
Report vessel strikes to the National Marine Mammal Stranding Network.
Last updated by Office of Protected Resources on 02/23/2026