ideonexus' flickr photostream/creative commons

Just about five months ago, I told you about how the government instituted a speed limit for any ships coming within 20 nautical miles (those would be miles that have eye patches and peg legs) of the North Atlantic right whale. And then about two months ago, I told you how the right whales’ wintering grounds had been found. Now, there’s a very good possibility that when I told you both those things, you thought, “So what? When is this going to ever have anything to do with anything?” Well, today, I have an answer for you.

Because if we don’t take these precautions and learn about this animal, we end up having to sedate the right whales to free them from ship ropes. And is that really what you want? We didn’t even know HOW to sedate whales before we did the one we did Friday. Okay, some back story:

The future of a right whale recovering from being tangled in 380 feet of rope for two months may never be known, but the story of how the rope was cut away signifies a major step in treatment for the critically endangered species.

A team of right whale experts sedated the whale while it swam free in the ocean near Ponce Inlet — the first time in the world such a procedure has ever been successful, said Jamison Smith, disentanglement coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Fisheries Service.

So, if we don’t stop sailing through these whales, we’re going to have to keep spending time and money knocking whales out. Which seems like something we shouldn’t have to do.

For Michael Moore, a senior research scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, it was a tremendous victory. Moore helps lead a team of scientists who spent 10 years perfecting a method to sedate right whales safely.

We’ve spent ten years figuring out how to sedate whales. How about we just stop sailing through the very specific places they are? But, really, takepart and read about how problematic this situation actually i.