2004 Bottlenose Dolphin Unusual Mortality Event Along the Florida Panhandle

Entangled Juvenile Right Whale, Kingfisher

NOAA Team Postpones Attempt to Remove Ropes From
Endangered Right Whale

Marine mammal stranding networks in the United States make up one facet of a broader, more comprehensive program called the Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program (MMHSRP), established in the late 1980s in response to growing concern about marine mammals washing ashore in U.S. waters. The MMHSRP goals are: to facilitate collection and dissemination of data, to assess health trends in marine mammals, to correlate health with available data on physical, chemical, environmental, and biological parameters, and to coordinate effective responses to unusual mortality events. For a copy of the Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program: Program Development Plan (PDF), click here.

This program was formalized by the 1992 Amendments to the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) was designated as the lead agency to coordinate related activities. The program has the following components: stranding networks, responses/investigations of mortality events, biomonitoring, tissue/serum banking and analytical quality assurance.

Stranding Networks

To respond to marine mammal strandings, volunteer stranding networks were established in all coastal states and are authorized through Letters of Authority from the NMFS regional offices. Through a National Coordinator and five regional coordinators, NMFS oversees, coordinates, and authorizes these activities and provides training to personnel. For a copy of the Level A data form (OMB used by stranding networks in the collection of marine mammal stranding data, click here ).

Biomonitoring

In recent years, high concentrations of potentially toxic substances in marine mammals and an increase in new diseases have been documented, and scientists have begun to consider the possibility of a link between these toxic substances and marine mammal mortality events. These studies contribute to a growing, worldwide effort of marine mammal biomonitoring not only to help assess the health and contaminant loads of marine mammals, but also to assist in determining anthropogenic impacts on marine mammals, marine food chains and marine ecosystem health. NMFS provides participants in the program with training and some financial support. Using strandings, and bycatch animals, the participants provide tissue/serum archiving, samples for analyses, disease monitoring and reporting and additional response during disease investigations.

The Analytical Quality Assurance (AQA)

This aspect of the MMHSRP was designed to ensure accuracy, precision, level of detection, and intercomparability of data in the chemical analyses of marine mammal tissue samples. The AQA consists of annual interlaboratory comparisons and the development of control materials and standard reference materials for marine mammal tissues. The new NIST Charleston facility is taking the lead for this activity.

Response to Unusual Mortality Events

In response to the 1987-88 dolphin die-off, NMFS established a Working Group on Unusual Marine Mammal Mortality Events to create criteria for determining when an unusual mortality event is occurring and then to direct responses to such events. The Working Group is periodically called upon to lend its expertise in situations where circumstances indicate an unusual mortality event may be occurring and may provide guidance throughout the event. This Group meets annually, and at the last meeting discussed many issues including recent mortality events involving endangered species both in the United States and abroad. Through consultation with other government agencies, the Working Group has been able to build on its existing knowledge of mortality events to better respond to unusual marine mammal mortality event.

National Marine Mammal Tissue Bank

The National Marine Mammal Tissue Bank was formally established in 1992 and provides protocols and techniques for the long-term storage of tissues from marine mammals for retrospective contaminant analyses. The Tissue Bank is currently expanding at the Ft Johnson NOAA facility in Charleston, South Carolina. The Tissue Bank uses the biomonitoring sites noted above and other trained personnel to collect tissues on specific indicator species (Atlantic bottlenose dolphins, Atlantic white sided dolphins, pilot whales, harbor porpoise), mass stranding animals, and mortality events. In addition, a serum bank and long-term storage of histopathology tissues are being developed.

Marine Mammals Ashore CD-ROM

Through a cooperative effort between the NMFS Office of Protected Resources, National Ocean Service’s Office of Ocean Resources Conservation and Assessment, and the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Marine Mammals Ashore: A Field Guide for Strandings by Geraci and Lounsbury has been adapted into a CD-ROM format. The CD-ROM includes the entire original publication in PDF, as well as updated information, stranding forms, and a multimedia overview including interactive discussions by marine mammal experts from around the world. The CD-ROM is compatible with most PC and Macintosh computers.

Marine Mammals Ashore: A Field Guide for Strandings was originally published in 1993 as one of the most comprehensive guides for marine mammal stranding response and rehabilitation ever compiled. Since its initial publication, this field guide has provided countless numbers of marine mammal rehabilitators and scientists around the world with information vital to successful response, rehabilitation, and release of marine mammals.

To purchase this CD-ROM, please contact Valerie Lounsbury at the National Aquarium in Baltimore by e-mail at: vlounsbury@aqua.org or by mail at: Pier 3, 501 East Pratt Street, Baltimore, MD 21202-3194. You can also purchase the CD-ROM online from the National Aquarium in Baltimore.

Photo Credit: Ron Hardy, GulfWorld