Protect the Rice’s whale from extinction

Fewer than 100 Rice's whales are left on Earth, and scientists think as few as 51 remain. They live only in the Gulf of Mexico, but the fight over their survival is the same one playing out for whales everywhere: whether an ocean full of life gets protected, or handed to the oil and gas industry.

The Trump administration has already used a rarely invoked committee, the "God Squad," to exempt Gulf drilling from the Endangered Species Act. Now the National Marine Fisheries Service is asking whether the Rice's whale should keep its endangered status at all. Stripping that protection would clear the way to drive one of the rarest whales in the world to extinction.

We know something about sharing water with whales here. Gray whales pass our headlands twice a year, and the crowds that gather to watch them are a reminder of how much a whale can mean to a coast. Earthjustice is collecting public comments to NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service through its action form, and the window closes July 6, 2026.