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About our Auction
The whale plate is 30 years young! To commemorate this milestone, we will soon be premiering the launch of the first auction by offering 30 low-number Whale Plates! There’s more! The 30 WHALE PLATES FOR 30 YEARS campaign is just the beginning. The online auction will continue over the next 2 years where we will auction low-number whale plates (RW and RT plates 1-999) by holding online auctions every 3-6 months with several more live bidding events.
Your involvement doesn't stop there! The whale plate, along with our other plates, the trout, striped bass, and Blackstone Valley, are part of a broader initiative to foster community engagement in environmental stewardship. With each plate purchased, you join a community of passionate individuals committed to making a tangible difference in our environment.
Don't miss this chance to support a worthy cause while adding a distinctive touch to your vehicle. Bid on a low-number whale plate and ride the wave of positive change with us. Together, we can nurture our natural world and inspire others to do the same. Let's make every mile count for conservation!
Please join us in making a splash for marine conservation! We invite you to participate in our special auction of low-number whale license plates, ranging from 1 to 999 for both the right whale (RW) and Roseate Terns (RT) plates. This unique opportunity directly supports the Massachusetts Environmental Trust (MET) and our mission to empower organizations dedicated to vital causes, ensuring healthier habitats and rich biodiversity for generations to come.
By purchasing one of these exclusive plates, you contribute to crucial grantmaking efforts aimed at protecting and conserving our precious marine animals, aquatic life, and river and estuarine ecosystems.
Auction Proceeds
Proceeds from the auction will grow our foundation to provide grants that help save whales, their food resources and monitoring of food distribution changes! Funds also help fishers with safer gear for marine animals and educates people about endangered species like the North Atlantic right whale and Roseate Terns.
The key to the auction is when you renew your registration with the Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) you are continuously supporting MET’s wide range of initiatives that support activities that advance protection and restoration of critical ecological systems and biological resources in the Commonwealth that focus on threatened and endangered species, critical habitats at risk, and marine, estuarine, and fresh- water systems. License plate renewals occur every 2 years and costs an additional $40 donation to MET.
Your whale plate donations allow MET to award $200,000 +yearly to the Massachusetts Large Whale and Sea Turtle Conservation Program and Large Whale and Turtle Disentanglement Network. This 27-year-long partnership with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF), the Center for Coastal Studies (CCS), and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), is an intensive effort to protect, restore and manage large whale and sea turtle species found in surrounding Massachusetts state waters. The program’s integrated approach combines monitoring and analysis of the population and habitat of approximately 360 surviving North Atlantic right whales, with hands-on, at-sea rescues of right whales, as well as other endangered marine species, among them humpback whales, fin whales, and leatherback sea turtles.
MET’s support is critical to DMF’s efforts that dovetail with federal funding and regulation of marine mammals, including the northern right whale which is the rarest of the world's great whales. Despite international protection by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and national protection afforded by the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 and the Endangered Species Act of 1973 the northern right whale population remains dangerously low.
Your support has a ripple effect in that it helps MET provide funding for programs that expand the global capacity for understanding, responding to, and ultimately preventing entanglements. For example: CCS continues to build on an existing collaboration with the IWC to develop a worldwide network of professionally trained and equipped entanglement responders, and work towards a long-term solution to the marine animal entanglement problem by working with fisheries managers to explore technologies and techniques to reduce the frequency and impact of entanglement on marine animals.
Impact of our license plates
Every dollar supports conservation programs, educational outreach, and scientific research. Your contribution helps MET support organizations working to:
- Improve passageways for sea-run fish like river herring and eels and expand forage food options for many other aquatic animals
- Conduct informative workshops and Conservation Commission Trainings
- Implement smart growth and/or low impact development through initial stage project approaches from planning, feasibility assessment, and permitting for river and estuarine modification and restoration
- Investigate coastal feeding and migratory habits of coastal wildlife like seals, turtles, shorebirds and other species
- Carry out activities that involve marine animal rescue, rehabilitation, and research on best practices for reintroduction of rescued and/or rehabilitated mammals into the wild
- Research the development of fishing gear that is safer for marine life by reducing the risk for injury and mortality
- Facilitate studies of stock structure, movements, local ecology and angler practices to improve hook-and-release release survival of striped bass and other recreational fish populations
- Employ scientists that track whale populations and study their behaviors to help develop strategies to mitigate threats such as ship strikes and entanglements
- Train Lobstermen in the use and application of gear restrictions and buoy line marking measures to protect marine animals