What to do if you find a stranded marine mammal?
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What to do if you find a stranded marine mammal?
To report a dead, injured, or stranded marine mammal along the West Coast (i.e., off California, Oregon, and Washington): West Coast Region Stranding Hotline: 1-866-767-6114. Regional Stranding Response Contacts.
What is marine mammal stranding?
What is a marine wildlife stranding? Stranded marine life can take the following forms: Whales, dolphins, and porpoises (cetaceans) are considered stranded when they are found dead, either on the beach or floating in the water, or alive on the beach and unable to return to the water.
Who is in charge of the US marine mammal Stranding Network?
The Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program (MMHRSP) was established in 1992 as an amendment to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). Volunteer stranding networks, authorized and overseen by NOAA’s NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service), were formed in all coastal states to respond to strandings.
What do you do if you find a dead seal on the beach?
What to do if you find a dead seal on the beach:
- Call your local Marine Wildlife Rescue operator immediately and take their advice. You should also inform the authorities responsible for managing the beach, including the police.
- Do not touch the animal or try to move it.
What do you do with a beached animal?
Make shade for the animal out of anything available, e.g. a tarp or beach umbrella. Dolphins’ bodies are not made to rest on land, so to make them more comfortable you need to dig a small hole under each pectoral fin. You can also dig a hole under the chest region and fill the hole with water.
How can we help beached animals?
Lifeguards might also be qualified to help a beached animal….Keep the animal cool.
- Wrap ice packs in a cloth or t-shirt and apply them to the fins and tail. Do not apply ice directly to the animal’s skin.
- Use an umbrella or tarp to keep the animal in shade.
- Do not get water in the blowhole.
What does mass stranding mean?
When three or more animals strand together in time and place, it is called a mass stranding. Communal animals, such as small cetaceans like pilot whales are the most common species found stranded. Mass strandings may include one or several species.
Why do marine mammals stranded on beaches?
The beaching of a single, live animal is usually the result of sickness or injury. Bad weather, old age, navigation errors, and hunting too close to shore also contribute to beachings. Some whale and dolphin species are more prone to mass beachings. Toothed whales (Odontoceti) are the most commonly affected.
When was the Marine Mammal Protection Act passed?
October 21, 1972
The Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) was enacted on October 21, 1972. The MMPA established a national policy to prevent marine mammal species and population stocks from declining beyond the point where they ceased to be significant functioning elements of the ecosystems of which they are a part.
What adaptations do marine animals have for diving?
They have very muscular and efficient lungs which can exhale up to 90% of the air in their lungs in any give breath (an athletic human can do around 10%.) Thus, by removing the air from their body, a diving marine mammal has very little problems with changing pressure. No air, no problem.
How can you tell if a seal is in distress?
Continuous breathing (constant in-and-out flow) Lots of coughing, sneezing or wheezing while breathing. Able to see shape of their ribs or other bones, skin may also look loose or baggy. Lethargic or unresponsive behavior when approached.
Why shouldn’t you push a dolphin back to sea?
RSPCA Cymru said cetaceans often move on to land because they are seriously ill and in some cases, to die. Returning them to the sea can be “hugely counter-productive” because it can cause further injury or death, the charity explained.
What causes stranding?
The clinical presentation—acute or chronic—is a key diagnostic feature. Acute conditions that cause fat stranding include peritonitis; inflammation, infection, or ischemia of the bowel; perforation of colon cancer; inflammation associated with pancreatitis or cholecystitis; trauma; and surgery.
Who enforces the Marine Mammal Protection Act?
NOAA Fisheries
How are protections for marine mammals enforced? NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement encourages compliance with and enforces all of the marine statutes and regulations for which NOAA Fisheries is responsible, including the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
What is banned by the Marine Mammal Protection Act?
With some exceptions, the MMPA prohibits the “take” of marine mammals—including harassment, hunting, capturing, collecting, or killing—in U.S. waters and by U.S. citizens on the high seas. The act also makes it illegal to import marine mammals and marine mammal products into the United States without a permit.
What 3 marine mammals dive the deepest?
Deepest Diving Marine Mammals
- Cuvier’s Beaked Whale.
- Sperm Whale.
- Southern Elephant Seal.
- Baird’s Beaked Whale.
- Blainville’s Beaked Whale. Blainville’s beaked whales are the widest ranging mesoplodont whale and probably the most well documented.
How deep can you go before you get the bends?
The Bends/DCS in very simple terms Anyone who dives deeper than 10 metres (30ft.) while breathing air from a scuba tank is affecting the balance of gases inside the tissues of their body. The deeper you dive, the greater the effect.
