The Dauphin Island Sea Lab is now home to the Alabama Marine Mammal Stranding Network (ALMMSN), which will respond to strandings and carcass sightings for any marine mammal in Alabama waters.

Dr. Ruth Carmichael, Senior Marine Scientist, DISL and Assistant Professor of Marine Sciences, University of South Alabama (USA), recently received two grants from the National Fish and Wildlife Federation and NOAA’s Fisheries Protected Resources Program to develop the ALMMSN and conduct tin-depth research into all marine mammal mortalities and stranding events in Alabama. 

Under the new program, DISL will take sighting and stranding calls for all marine mammals:
For manatee sightings, carcasses, or strandings, the public can still call: 1-866-493-5803.
For dolphin and other marine mammal strandings, the public can call: 1-877-942-5343 (1-877-Whale-help)
Both numbers will connect to DISL personnel 24 hours a day.

“We hope to improve understanding of how natural and human factors affect marine mammal populations in our waters,” stated Carmichael. “The new network will allow us to collect more and better quality data from animals that are understudied in our region.  Since we already conduct research on manatees, it made sense to expand our efforts to include other marine mammals and ensure collection of the best quality data possible.”

DISL currently operates the only formal manatee sighting network in the U.S., dedicated to receiving and mapping manatee sightings and tracking movement patterns for manatees from western Florida through Mississippi. For the past few years, however, there has been no dedicated responder for other marine mammal carcasses or strandings (such as the bottlenose dolphin, which is the most commonly stranded marine mammal in Alabama waters), and data were often lost.  DISL’s expanded marine mammal research program will close this data gap and provide opportunities for collaborative study on causes of death, characteristics of carcasses, and diet of some of the apex predators in our area.

If you are interested in volunteering to be a stranding network responder, making a contribution to support this important research, or would like more information, a boat decal or dock sign with manatee reporting information, please contact ALMMSN (251-861-2141, x7547). 

 

Photo caption: Dolphin carcass sampled by DISL's marine mammal stranding network in summer 2011. Credit: Courtney Miller/DISL.