There are only 51 Rice's Whales left in the Gulf. Matt Gaetz wants to lift their protections.

Congressman Matt Gaetz has his crosshairs on the world's most endangered marine mammal.

He wants to see to it that the U.S. Air Force is free to test its arsenal of weapons in the Gulf of Mexico waters where the 50 or so remaining Rice's Whales make their home. He has introduced legislation that would exempt the Air Force from provisions of the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act "for certain activities that may result in the incidental take of Rice's Whale."

Incidental take is the term used to describe the unintentional harming or killing of a marine animal. The certain activities mentioned all involve firing live or inert munitions over the Gulf of Mexico.

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Gaetz, Florida's First District Congressman, made his pitch against saving the whales in March at a House Armed Services Committee meeting when he interrogated Gen. Glen VanHerk, the commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command and United States Northern Command.

With only a handful of his congressional colleagues present, Gaetz opened his comments to VanHerk by asking if he'd ever heard of Rice's Whale, to which the general responded he had not.

"I don't blame you," Gaetz responded. "There are only 51 of them, and until 2021 even the Rice's Whale didn't know it was a Rice's Whale. People thought it was a Byrde's Whale."

What is a Rice's Whale?

Rice's Whale, also known as the Gulf of Mexico Whale, was only identified as a unique species in 2021 when researchers for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration were able to confirm physical and genetic traits that set it apart from the Bryde's Whale, it's closest relative.

Rice's Whale is the only species of whale unique to the waters of America. It resides almost exclusively in a deep depression along the continental shelf running between Pensacola and Fort Myers about 60 miles off the coast. The DeSoto Canyon, as it is called, offers some refuge for the critically endangered whale from the noise generated by ship traffic and oil drilling operations.

Gaetz told VanHerk that "some scientist" had decided to make Rice's Whale a unique species, and by doing so had brought Gulf of Mexico weapons testing to a halt.

"There's no live testing going on right now in the Gulf Test Range because the renewal process required has been (spoiled) by the Department of Commerce," he said. "A serious nation would not impair live fire testing and other critical testing of hypersonic component parts over the range this committee has invested over $170 million into because we found 51 whales we didn't know existed until 2021."

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VanHerck did express some concern over Gaetz's assertions about live fire testing, and Gaetz sought his help in curtailing protections for the whale.

"Since we share a vision to ensure we have that high level readiness and that we have the areas necessary to plan for a China scenario, will your staff work with me to see how we can supercharge the voice of the Department of Defense in this interagency process where some people appear to be stopping critical mission over 51 whales?" Gaetz asked.

The general informed Gaetz that as a combat commander it would not be his role to work with him to see the test range opened to areas that include Rice's Whale habitat. A Department of Defense representative told Gaetz the information he had presented to the general would be studied.

Gaetz's office referred inquiries from the Pensacola News Journal to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries website.

Eglin Air Force Base officials say Rice's Whale is not the cause of Gulf weapons testing pause

Officials at Eglin Air Force Base, the chief benefactor of the vast Eglin Gulf Test and Training Range, refuted the assertion that live fire testing over the Gulf had been halted due to the presence of Rice's Whale.

It has been put on hold, base spokesman Mike Spaits said, due to the fact the base's seven-year testing authorization expired Feb. 12.

"Live-fire has not been curtailed due to concerns with the Rice's Whale," Spaits said in an email. "All of the actions Eglin proposed in our letter of authorization application can and will proceed once National Marine Fisheries Service publishes the Final Federal Register notice (rulemaking) and signs and delivers the new (letter of authorization)."

Gaetz filed for the exemption from the Marine Mammal Protection Act independently of the Air Force, which has agreed in principle to a seven-year extension of its operating agreement for munitions testing in the Eglin Test and Training Range.

The Final Register Notice Spaits referred to is a long and highly specific document that details many of the findings of the Range Environmental Assessment conducted by the Air Force and National Marine Fisheries Service. It estimates that weapons testing can be accomplished in the Gulf without harming a single Rice's Whale.

"The mortality takes calculated for the bottle nose dolphin and Atlantic spotted dolphin are both below one, while for the Rice's Whale it is zero," the notice states.

It also says that the Air Force and National Marine Fisheries Service took unprecedented steps during development of the 2023-30 letter of authorization to increase protections for the Rice's Whale.

"The USAF has agreed to procedural mitigation measures that would reduce the possibility and/or severity of impact expected to result from acute exposure to live explosives and inert munitions impacts to marine mammal habitat," the Federal Register document states. "The US Air Force will prohibit the use of live or inert munitions in Rice's Whale habitat during the effective period for the proposed (letter of authorization)."

Spaits said it is anticipated the letter of authorization will arrive in the April time frame and the base at that time will resume live-fire tests in the Gulf of Mexico.

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Gaetz told the general that "because of Rice's Whale," testing normally done over Gulf waters is now being conducted over land on the sprawling Eglin Reservation. He claimed the land testing is having a "cascading effect" that is impacting other base military exercises and forcing the shutdown of highways that thousands of Northwest Floridians use daily.

Spaits confirmed that, as a result of the letter of authorization expiring, operations across the entire training range involving live impact weapons, inert impact weapons and aerial gunnery ceased to be authorized.

"Some test programs will use Eglin land ranges instead of overwater ranges, which may create scheduling conflicts on the land ranges and second and third order impacts," he said.  

Spaits said that the Air Force anticipates a future requirement to expand testing missions further into the Eglin Gulf Test and Training Range. That expansion will again include extensive consultation with agencies like the National Marine Fisheries Service.

"We expect to complete an Environmental Impact Statement, along with a new LOA application, in the near future to address that," he said.

Christian Wagley, a coastal organizer for Healthy Gulf, an agency closely monitoring drilling and other activities in the Eastern Gulf, has also been following the latest Rice's Whale saga. He said the Eglin Air Force track record of environmental stewardship gives him some confidence care will be taken to do what can be done to continue to protect the miniscule whale population.

"Eglin has been very good at working with endangered species," he said.