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There are actions that have been taken to correct the problematic circumstances of the

lives of these creatures. The story of a female Northern Right Whale named Metompkin, who

was born in 1987, truly seems like a miracle when one takes into consideration the dangerous

circumstances of Northern Right Whale existence. The story of her survival began when

Northern Right Whale #1707 was spotted about twenty miles North of Jacksonville, Florida with

fishing line tangled around her and lobster traps trailing behind her on January 1, 1996. There

was no question whether this whale needed to be freed from the entanglement because she is one

of the very few female North Atlantic Right Whales left, and if nothing was done about it, she

could develop cuts from the ropes and they could put her at risk of death by infection. About two

weeks later, a team from the New England Aquarium was able to cut about 150 feet of rope from

her and attach a VHF (Very High Frequency Radio) to the still existing line. They knew that so

far she had probably already traveled from Northern waters near Maine with the buoys and ropes

attached to her because the marks on the equipment tell from where they are and to whom they

belong. Because of sea conditions, the researchers were having a tough time freeing her from the

rest of the equipment. Around January 23rd, the researchers knew that the battery in the VHF

was not going to last much longer and they knew that if they lost track of her she would most

likely die, so they decided to involve the U.S. Coastguard. Some of the Coastguard's concerns

were time involved, sea conditions, resources, and safety. They decided they would use a

fisheries patrol boat called "The Metompkin" to help with the rescue. When they caught up to

her, she was still dragging the ropes. Because of the conditions of the sea, they were not able to

free her from all of the material, but they were able to put a new satellite transmitter and VHF

transmitter on her. Because the tagging was such a success, the scientists named her after the