Florida fisherman reels over new boating speed limits to protect endangered whales: ‘It’s just unsafe’

foxbusiness.com:

Hubbard’s Marina co-owner and deep sea fishing Cpt. Dylan Hubbard speaks to Fox News Digital about 10-knot boating speed limits 'crippling' business and the coastal economy.

Jetting out of Johns Pass to the emerald green Gulf seas off Florida’s coast nearly 200 times every day, Hubbard’s Marina Captain Dylan Hubbard claimed he’s never personally spotted a whale on any of his fishing charters.

«We offer a multitude of different trips on a multitude of different boats, and we've been in business for a really, really long time and I have been operating the company myself and operating many, many trips on the water often,» Hubbard told Fox News Digital.

«And in my lifetime,» the captain continued, «there has been one whale that washed ashore here in Madeira Beach, being stranded, and that was a natural mortality event, [it] wasn't a boat strike.»

Hubbard represents just one of the thousands of business and marine tourism industry leaders sounding off on proposals being examined by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to enforce speed regulations in hopes to preserve North Atlantic rights and Rice’s whale populations.

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Two separate proposals were brought by nonprofits and lobbyists to NOAA impacting Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic shorelines, respectively: NOAA Fisheries opened public comment on a year-round rule establishing a 10-knot vessel speed limit in the Rice’s whale’s core habitat, but they’ve moved forward with the same proposed vessel speed limit for the entire East Coast of the United States to protect right whales from boat-related injuries or death.

Captain Dylan Hubbard, Hubbard’s Marina