Millennium Assessment of Human Behavior

led to a reduction in ship strike mortalities. The risk of fishing gear entanglement has been addressed by selective area closures and gear modifications (9). These closures do not adequately encompass the seasonal movements of right whales, and gear modifications implemented thus far have not reduced entanglement rates. Eight dead right whales in the past 16 months provide clear evidence that management efforts have been woefully inadequate, and much stronger measures are needed to reverse the right whale's decline. Accordingly, we urge immediate changes to the management of right whales, focusing on reducing human-induced mortality. Some of the following recommendations will also benefit other marine species that face similar threats, such as the endangered leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys cori-acea) (10). First, emergency measures should be implemented to reduce speeds and reroute commercial and military ships as recommended in the NOAA Fisheries Advanced Notice of Proposed Rule-Making (11). Second, the amount of fixed fishing gear in the water column should be eliminated or minimized. There are many steps that could be taken to do this, including (i) mandating changes in the pot-fishing industry (lobster, crab, hagfish, etc.) that will reduce gear in the water; (ii) requiring use of alternative rope types (e.g., sinking ground lines) to minimize entanglement deaths; (iii) developing and implementing fishing methods that do not use vertical lines attached to surface buoys; and (iv) developing a fast-track process for permitting and experimenting with conservation-focused fishing gear modifications and implementation. This means streamlining the current rule-making and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process for right whale research and gear modifications, which now takes years. Given the slow speed of the regulatory process, interim emergency measures to reduce shipping and fishing mortality in right whales should be implemented immediately. Delays in implementation would be ignoring both scientific and legal mandates and could consign North Atlantic right whales to extinction. A growing scientific consensus says that global society is under increasing threat from the impact of human activities: Climate change, loss of biological diversity and ecosystem services, and changes in patterns of land use and land cover are among the more troublesome problems (1–3). Some of these problems require attention from governments and other social institutions. But it is the collective actions of individuals that lie at the heart of the dilemma. Analysis of individual motives and values should be critical to a solution. Yet society has no prominent international forum …