Federal regulators are abandoning a proposal to expand ocean speed limits that were designed to protect North Atlantic right whales. The whales, which give birth off Georgia’s coast in the winter, are nearing extinction;

NOAA proposed a speed change to certain water vessels in order to aid the critically endangered right whale population.

The proposed rules would have slowed more ships to prevent collisions with endangered North Atlantic right whales.

Federal regulators are abandoning a proposal to expand ocean speed limits that were designed to protect North Atlantic right whales. The whales, which give birth off Georgia’s coast in the winter, are nearing extinction: just 370 remain,

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has withdrawn a proposed regulation intended to protect the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale from vessel strikes. The decision has left conservationists and Maine’s lobster industry expressing disappointment,