They're one of the most endangered mammals in the world.

But New Jersey Congressman Frank Pallone says there is a way to save North Atlantic right whales, which are on the brink of extinction.

Thanks to human activity.

Pallone is demanding the US Coast Guard and other federal agencies enforce speeding restrictions on large shipping vessels, according to federal data.

Fast moving vessel strikes and entanglements are responsible for three quarters of whale deaths and injuries, but no one is stopping them from breaking speeding laws.

Senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan reports.

Boats are speeding and whales are dying.

It's just that simple.

Advocates for North Atlantic right whales issued a dire warning to slow moving behemoths, swimming in busy shipping lanes to often end up as hit and run victims killed by massive cargo ships that often violate seasonal go slow zones in red on the map.

Some 86% of big cargo vessels using the ports of New York and New Jersey exceed the 11 mile per hour mandatory speed limit established by NOA.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, according to a recent study.

Even one human caused death is too many for this population to sustain.

If no one wants to save the species from extinctions from extinction, ships must slow down when these whales are present and speeding boats must be held accountable.

We see marine mammals washing ashore along the East Coast and even the entire country, most of them with clear evidence of propeller marks and injuries of severe skull damage and internal bleeding.

We must actually do the work to crack down and enforce the vessel speed rule.

The idea that they just issue the rule and don't enforce it is totally unacceptable to me.

Congressman Frank Pallone says the Coast Guard told him they need more resources to enforce the whale safety speed limit.

NOAA reports it's pursued just 56 civil cases, worth about $1,000,000 in fines over the past two years.

A frustrated Pallone today fired off a letter to both agencies demanding they aggressively expand existing enforcement efforts to ensure compliance with the rule and deter future violators.

As you know, if you have a rule and you find out that nobody's enforcing it, it doesn't have any deterrent effect.

It's basically a speeding ticket.

Animal welfare advocate Greg Reilly served in the Coast Guard.

He credits NOAA, which didn't reply to our request for comment for proposing stricter rules.

But Reilly says both agencies need to take stronger action.

I know firsthand that even small amounts of enforcement, even small tickets, cause changes in behavior.

Can you spot the red dot?

It shows a satellite tagged whale migrating north.

Collisions have increased as climate change draws in.

Whales followed their food fish closer to shore.

Since 2017, more than 120 whales have died, most of them after ship strikes and entanglements.

Only 340 North Atlantic right whales remain, including just 70 breeding females.

But when those mother calf pairs are in the water, they are especially susceptible to vessel strikes.

They spend a lot of time at or near the surface, and that's exactly where the strikes happen.

It's time to ensure that we don't have lawbreakers off the Jersey shore that are recklessly speeding.

Pallone says NOAA got $82 million in federal infrastructure funding this past summer.

He urges the agency and the Coast Guard to spend more on speed enforcement.

In Long Branch, I'm Brenda Flanagan, NJ.

Spotlight News.