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Don't Let Budget Cuts Sentence Whales to Death
Final signature count: 69
69 signatures toward our 30,000 goal
Sponsor: Free The Ocean
Whales are tangled in fishing gear in remote Hawaiian waters — and the crews that save them are being cut.
Each year, humpback whales and other large cetaceans move through Hawaiian waters. Each year, some become entangled in fishing gear. Without trained responders, the right vessels, and specialized equipment on standby, these animals die slowly. The ability to reach them in time is not guaranteed — and right now, it is getting harder to maintain.
The Scale of the Problem Is Real and Documented
NOAA's Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary has tracked large whale entanglement incidents across Hawaii for years, and its most recent season-end report confirms the problem continues.3 Freeing a large whale from rope and gear is specialized, dangerous work that demands experienced crews operating from appropriate vessels — often in difficult open-ocean conditions.4 Distance makes everything harder. The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands stretch more than 1,200 miles from Honolulu, placing entangled animals far beyond the reach of any improvised or underfunded response.
Budget Cuts Are Eroding the Agency Responsible
NOAA manages marine sanctuaries and coordinates large whale entanglement response across U.S. waters. The agency is now facing deep proposed budget reductions, with cuts targeting staffing, field operations, and research programs across the board.5 Fewer resources translate directly into slower response times, reduced training, and widening coverage gaps — especially in remote areas like Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, one of the largest marine protected areas on Earth.
More Fishing in Sensitive Waters Means More Risk
At the same time response capacity shrinks, the waters around the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are open to more fishing activity. The Trump administration reversed long-standing conservation measures and reopened previously protected Hawaiian waters to commercial fishing in June 2026.2 This move is part of a broader pattern of rollbacks affecting Pacific marine monuments.7 A separate executive order on recreational fishing has drawn further concern from ocean advocates over cumulative impacts on marine ecosystems.1
More gear in the water means more entanglement risk. Reduced NOAA capacity combined with expanded fishing in sensitive habitat is a compounding problem — and the animals caught in the middle have no way out without human intervention.
Dedicated Response Saves Lives
This is not guesswork. NOAA Fisheries documented meaningful reductions in entanglement harm for Hawaiian monk seals when dedicated response and monitoring programs were consistently maintained.6 The same logic applies to large whales. Reliable, funded capacity works. When it disappears, animals die that could have been saved.
Permanent Capacity Is the Only Real Solution
A petition to NOAA leadership and Congress calls for permanent, dedicated vessel, staffing, and equipment capacity for whale entanglement response and marine wildlife emergency operations in the Papahānaumokuākea region. The goal is to make this an essential, guaranteed function — not a program that evaporates when budgets tighten or political winds shift.
Sign the petition now and demand that NOAA and Congress commit to permanent entanglement response capacity in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands — before more whales pay the price of inaction.
