In recent years, there has been a large increase in whale sightings in the waters of the New York City area. Scientists say this is because of the high amounts of small fish that the whales (mostly juvenile humpback whales) primarily feed on. Specifically, these small fish are called menhaden, and their population has grown in recent years as a result of stricter conservation laws and cleaner waters in New York. Gotham Whale, a whale research organization in New York, recorded only three whale sightings in 2011, but, by 2019, 500 whale sightings were reported. While a rebound in populations is of course a positive occurrence, an increase in the number of whales in the New York-New Jersey area poses some risk, as these are some of the most heavily traversed waters in the world. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Organization (NOAA) records show that, since 2016, 133 humpback whales have died on the Atlantic coast, 29 of which were in New York. Half of the dead whales were either killed by a ship strike or by entanglement in fishing gear. In July 2020, a juvenile humpback whale was seen entangled in 4,000 pounds of fishing gear next to the entrance of New York Harbor. Its tail was tangled in rope, netting, buoys, and steel cables. Experts took three days to free it using hacksaws and bolt cutters.
Before the Clean Water Act had been passed in 1972, millions of liters of sewage and chemicals were dumped into the New York waters. This led to high levels of bacteria and low levels of oxygen, reducing algae and plankton growth, which caused fewer small fish to come to feed, in turn discouraging whale traffic. When the environmental laws were put into place, the ecosystem slowly recovered, but this recovery was a long process, and proposals to repeal conservation laws could hinder the progress. Atlantic Ocean offshore oil and gas exploration was banned under the Obama administration but is being reexamined under the Trump Administration. Communication is crucial for whales in terms of migration and feeding, and underwater air explosions used to find oil and natural gas deposits can interfere with whale communication. This hindrance could greatly harm the North Atlantic right whale—there are only fewer than 500 left in the north-western part of the Atlantic Ocean. The success of the Clean Water Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act in bringing back whale populations to New York City demonstrates the importance of strictly enforcing environmental laws. Additional laws could be enacted to keep whales safe, such as a law for a speed reduction in areas where whales travel and feed, or a law that reduces the maximum amount of vertical lines from fishing gear. There needs to be a way for whales to stay in the New York City waters without being harmed.