Comment from Society of Marine Mammalogy
Society of Marine MammalogySupportAdvocacy
Summary: The Society for Marine Mammalogy (SMM) supports the recognition of Rice’s whale as a distinct species based on robust taxonomic and genomic evidence. They argue that the species is critically endangered and urge NOAA to implement immediate protective measures, such as vessel speed regulations, to prevent ship strikes.
The best available evidence strongly supports the robust conclusion by the Society of Marine Mammalogy's Committee on Taxonomy that Rice's whale is a distinct species. The Society supports the Committee on Taxonomy’s recognition of Rice’s whale as a species, and regards it as the most endangered large whale species. When working with marine mammals and small or difficult-to-study populations, limited sample sizes are often unavoidable and should not be seen as a weakness of the science. With a total population of only 50-100 individuals, we emphasize the need for immediate measures to protect Rice’s whale and promote its recovery.