The Washington Post’s David A. Farenthold reports that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has weakened protections for the North Atlantic right whale. NOAA decided to change "buffer zones" for these whales to a 20-mile area off of Altantic Ocean ports instead of the current 30 miles. The buffer zones mean that ships can’t travel more than 10 nautical miles per hour.

While Melville’s Ahab was irreconcilably frustrated with the great pursuit of a whale, cargo companies have actually found it rather easy to lobby for weakened whale protections. Reducing the protective space of whale isn’t a huge change. But it does raise eyebrows with only 300 right whales still in existence.-MB

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