Comment from BOONE, STACY

Most people don’t know, but a Rice’s Whale sleeps on the surface of the water in the dark hours and during the light hours dives to feed for their prey. Another one of many amazing animals. We are all animals, but sometimes us humans forget, wanting to be a dominate species and having little regard for other living beings. What our ethical conscious has come to necessitating this FR Notice Initiation of a Status Review for the Rice’s Whale and Request for Information. My public comment is made with a bit of a nudging reminder: the earth is a web of interconnection. For too long the gas and petroleum industry has reigned with no accountability and consequence to the impact big businesses leave on the environment – from polluting waters to spewing toxins in the air. A consequence of what has become - human reliance on fossil fuels – but more defining is companies unwilling to use available technology to reduce consumption through efficiency standards. This is a regulatory grab to again ease the way for extraction actions despite the findings of science. Science is a systematic study using observation and experiments (understood as research) and (regardless if the human population needs to know everything, or anything for that matter, about all creatures), we do need to be accountable for the rules and regulations intentionally ad thoughtfully put into place with resolve for a wide-scope understanding of our planet and relationships. The Endangered Species Act (ESA), as passed in 1973, came with an understanding that “We the People,” were not looking far enough into the distance at the implications of our resource extraction on the land, forests, streams, and oceans to which we rely upon. Instead, there feels to be a politically motivated effort to gut the ESA for economic gain possible by a few. I suspect the committee has little care, hence the reason thousands of us must put pen to paper, or key to computer screen, as a reminder that our voice matters. The research evidence unequivocally notes that there are few Rice’s Whales living. To maintain the guardrails of the ESA not only protects these mammals, but a community within the ecosystem to which we still do not know enough about. It seems that the committee is implementing its own biases in making a decision, not for the advantage or assistance to fishermen, but for an industry that continues to take without supervision, answerability, or responsibility for any fallout. Proof has been evident for years that conservation has benefited the fishing industry and it has a reliance on maintaining the integrity of bionetworks. There are only 51 surviving Rice’s Whales, a single species of whale living in the Gulf of Mexico. In 2016, NOAA scientists conducted a formal Status Review of these very whales (Status review of Bryde's whales (Balaenoptera edeni) in the Gulf of Mexico under the Endangered Species Act (2016), doi:10.7289/V5/TM-SEFSC-692). It is well understood that Rice’s Whales travel in a restricted habitat, one becoming more confining with continuous human-instigated pressures including but not limited to major shipping lanes, offshore energy development, seismic surveying, chronic acoustic disturbances, pollution, and vessel strikes. Scientific data confirms these whales are genetically, morphologically, and behaviorally distinct, supporting their recognition as a unique species requiring specific conservation measures. [References: A new species of baleen whale (Balaenoptera) from the Gulf of Mexico, with a review of its geographic distribution (2021), doi:10.1111/mms.12776; Critically endangered Rices whales (Balaenoptera ricei) selectively feed on high-quality prey in the Gulf of Mexico (2023), doi:10.1038/s41598-023-33905-6; Rice's whale occurrence in the western Gulf of Mexico from passive acoustic recordings (2024), doi:10.1111/mms.13109; A density surface model describing the habitat of the Critically Endangered Rices whale Balaenoptera ricei in the Gulf of Mexico (2024), doi:10.3354/esr01324; Biological findings from a newly developed photo-identification catalog for the critically endangered Rices whale (Balaenoptera ricei) (2025), doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0331010] Marine biology experts (yes, real studied experts have value) determined this group of whales is unique and at such risk of extinction, the best available science supports not just maintaining but strengthening ESA protections. It is inexcusable to withdraw, reduce or limit any protections for this species.