The sanctuary’s mission would be to protect the right whales and this critical sandy and shoaly marine habitat through education, research, and resource protection efforts guided by an active advisory council. The sanctuary would work with community and interest groups, including conservationists, scientists, fishers, windmill and boat operators, government agencies, and others. To partner with indigenous knowledge holders, named positions on the Advisory Council would include Narraganset and Wampanoag Aquinna representatives.
The sanctuary has contested waters with plans for many windmills, increasing ship traffic, fishing, and lobstering. To manage, the Sanctuary will convene regular meetings of Advisory Council members to develop comprehensive interagency plans; increase data sharing between academia, government, industry, and community groups to maximize the amount of data available; increase analytical rigor; and develop and implement directed studies of right whale population-level changes from offshore wind and other activities.
