Sat, Aug 30, 2008 (2:05 a.m.)

The North Atlantic right whale earned its name because it was once considered the “right whale” to hunt. A notoriously slow swimmer, it was an easy target.

Fewer than 350 are believed to exist today, making it an endangered species. Few calves have been spotted in recent years, contributing to fears the whale will become extinct.

Because its migratory patterns are close to the Eastern coastline, the whale has often been killed by passing ships. This led the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 2006 to recommend speed limits for vessels of 10 nautical miles per hour within 30 nautical miles of coastal ports, with a nautical mile covering slightly more than an ordinary mile. But on Monday the agency announced its proposed safety zone would be reduced to 20 nautical miles for ships that are at least 65 feet long.

In so doing, the agency run by the Bush administration bowed to the demands of the powerful shipping industry, which complained that adhering to a 30-mile zone would cause unreasonable shipping delays and force commercial shippers to use more fuel.

The difference of 10 nautical miles may not seem like much, but The Washington Post reported that 90 percent of the whale sightings are within 30 miles of shore, whereas 83 percent of the sightings are within 20 miles. That would indicate that some of the whales are traveling outside the safety zone proposed by the agency, all the more reason to extend it to 30 miles or more, if necessary.

A well-managed safety zone has been known to work well with other endangered species. A notable example is the manatee, a docile marine mammal that resides mostly off the Florida coast.

Inconveniencing ships is a small price to pay to protect an endangered sea creature.

President Bush, who has said he wants to be a “steward of the Earth,” has an opportunity to prove it by persuading his agency to revert to the proposed 30-mile safety zone to help save the right whale from disappearing forever.