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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| A whale of a job |
| 2004-03-24 |
| Despite a tangle of fishing gear pinning its flippers to its body, a 34-foot endangered North American right whale slowly swam north along the South Carolina coast as scientists laid plans to free him. The yearling, dubbed Kingfisher, is one of only an estimated 350 North American right whales. It was sighted off Jacksonville, Fla., last week. Scientists worked off the Florida coast on Friday to free the whale, but found he was so twisted in the lines they would have to return and sedate him and try again. "If we do not remove the lines, the whale will die," said Dr. Teri Rowles, the lead veterinarian for the National Marine Fisheries Service who heads the Nation’s Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Program. Since the whale is young, the lines, if not removed, will kill it as it gets bigger and they tighten around the creature. During the rescue work last week, scientists attached a buoy with a satellite transmitter. By midafternoon Tuesday, Kingfisher was off Winyah Bay near Georgetown, S.C., and swimming slowly north. Scientists from National Marine Fisheries, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission and the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, Mass., were expected to set out to catch up with the whale on Wednesday. "They will use a sedative to relax the whale so they are able to work in an area which is dangerous to work in," said Joanne Jarzobski, a program coordinator with the Center for Coastal Studies, a nonprofit group which does applied research and marine mammal rescues. She said, however, the technique has been only used once before and while the sedative may calm the whale, there’s a chance it could make it hyperactive instead. Scientists in the rescue team unsuccessfully tried the technique three years ago, but that whale never slowed enough for the ropes to be cut. It’s not clear where the rescue team, which will be aboard a Coast Guard cutter, will catch up with the whale, Jarzobski said. She said the ropes are wrapped around both flippers, with between 20 and 30 wraps on the whale’s left flipper. An estimated 60 percent of right whales become entangled in fishing lines, Jarzobski said. Last year, the Center for Coastal Studies received 75 reports of whale entanglements and confirmed 35. Teams from the center were able to free 12 whales, she said. Whales don’t need to be disentangled if the situation is not life-threatening. But a young whale like Kingfisher will die if not freed, she said. |
| Posted by:Steve from Relto |
| #1 Sad, time to call in a P-3 with a DVM in the weapons chair. I would suggest a Harpoon. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-03-24 1:29:59 PM |