WASHINGTON - Several conservation groups announced their intent to file a lawsuit against the Trump administration for stripping efforts to preserve an endangered whale species. 

The groups - which included the Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth, Turtle Island Restoration Club and the Sierra Club - sought the reinstating of certain measures that were revoked in February.

Those measures included guidance for oil and gas vessels not to travel through the habitat of the Rice's whale at more than 10 nautical miles per hour and to avoid the area at night and during times with low visibility. 

The Rice's whale habitat includes a portion of the central and eastern Gulf of Mexico. The Trump administration has renamed the body of water to the Gulf of America. 

Conservation groups say the Rice's whale is one of the most endangered whales in the world with only 51 known individuals remaining.