Slaughtering the Yevarra for research.

Any real scientist with their level of technological understanding would study the Yevarra and create a synthetic version of whatever it is that treats the wounds.

Yeah, I was confused about why she had to kill them. Why couldn't she just take blood/skin samples to get the enzymes she was looking for, release them again, and make a synthetic version to help her people? So yeah, I didn't quite trust her, so both times I've done that quest I told the other Angara about her "research".

Do you realise how many animals are killed by Universities during research? It's a hell of a lot. Unfortunately that's how things pan out when it comes to research.

My Ryder was a bit of a softy who always looked out for his squadmates, so he always listened when his squadmates pleaded. He saved the Angara at the exaltation facility, shut down research of the Yevarra, and left Raeka to die so he could help Drack's scouts. My second Ryder will probably be more pragmatic, ultimately one superstition or tradition isn't important when your entire culture and genetic profile is at risk.

Which was why I let her keep going. Jaal seemed to approve so long as it wasn't him having to make the call.

I shut her down in both playthroughs so far. Might go the other way in my 3rd playthrough since I'm on Voeld just now.

I think I'd be more likely to agree to it if the exiles were using them for food and resources. Unless I'm mistaken, by the end of the game the AI still doesn't have viable Andromeda food sources of their own. There was the email from Suvi about a plant they'd named after Ryder which still died a lot and was often sterile. It seems like any crops they might have would have come from the Milky Way still. If Yevarra are edible, and they could be hunted in a sustainable way, some of my Ryders might go along with that. Jaal would probably be pissed though.

Yeah Jaal gets pretty damn conflicted and leaves the choice to Ryder.

Seems like a big cost for a short term goal, esp considering how easily we wrap up the kett.

No scientist would ever kill the entire population of their study organism. It's stupid for ALOT of obvious reasons.

Over-fishing without proper management, on the other hand, has decimated natural populations in many ecosystems.

The ones fishing for food would be much more likely to wipe them out than a scientist doing research. So I was all ready to shut them down when I thought they were hunters. I hesitated when I saw it was a scientist, but it is heavily implied that this particular scientist is an idiot who is going to deplete her research pool and wipe out the "space whales". So, I made her stop.

So in answer to the question, I think the angara should allow ethical research on the space whales if preserving the population while also benefiting from them is the goal.  If the space-whales are sentient, have language, etc, then it is kinda screwed up.  But...wait...did you just trick us into talking about real whales? 

Shit...this is why I am a geologist, damnit!  Rocks don't have feelings!

Red Lyrium has feelings.

Not sure if they still count as rocks though.

But thats for another thread.

I don't think the woman talked enough about her research to understand why she needs to kill them. Especially since it's already established that the Initiative has cloning technology.

I stopped the research because the Initiative has Medi-gel, adapting it to the Angara solves the problem.