At the May 19, 20919 business meeting of the Framingham Democratic Committee, the membership vote to pass the following resolution regarding protection for the North Atlantic right whales.

WHEREAS, the North Atlantic right whales have been hunted since the 11^th century; and

WHEREAS, once numbering in the tens of thousands, the right whale population has dwindled to 411, with fewer than 100 reproductive-aged females left alive and no new births observed in 2018; and

WHEREAS, the carcasses of more than 20 whales have been found over the last two years; and 

WHEREAS, the remaining population of right whales is immediately threatened by human activity; and

WHEREAS, without action, the North Atlantic right whale as a species will be extinct in our lifetime; and

WHEREAS, Federal legislation known as the Scientific Assistance for the Very Endangered (SAVE) Right Whales Act, sponsored by Congressman Seth Moulton and co-sponsored by Congressman Bill Keating has been endorsed by the International Fund for Animal Welfare; and

WHEREAS, this act would provide the development and adoption of innovative solutions and technology to reduce the leading causes of right whale deaths: commercial fishing entanglements and collisions with shipping vessels; and

WHEREAS, the act would provide critical funding for whale-safe gear that would ensure an ocean that sustains both the right whale and a viable lobster industry for the hardworking men and women from Gloucester to New Bedford, from Falmouth to Provincetown, who make a living on the water; and

WHEREAS, the right whale migratory range passes by Massachusetts coast; and

WHEREAS, the permanent loss of an entire species is a blow to the ocean’s ecosystem that our coastal communities will witness firsthand; and

WHEREAS, as a coastal state, we have a responsibility as marine stewards to prevent this ecological tragedy; now

THEREFORE, be it resolved that the Framingham Democratic Committee supports the efforts at the Federal level of the SAVE Right Whales Act.