Marine mammals of maine responds to stranded marine mammals in mid-coast and southern maine and provides triage and rehabilitation services for pinnipeds in need of short- and long-term care that…

This Project Grant award from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) under the Marine Mammal Data Program (CFDA 11.439) provides $177,723 to Marine Mammals of Maine to support marine mammal stranding response, rehabilitation, and data collection services in mid-coast and southern Maine. Key objectives include conducting high-quality response and treatment for live and dead stranded marine mammals, performing biological sampling and necropsies, enhancing data management processes, and conducting community outreach and volunteer training programs. This funding addresses critical research needs, including monitoring unusual mortality events affecting whales and pinnipeds, tracking infectious diseases, and managing human-wildlife conflicts. Marine Mammals of Maine has previously received over $877,352 in federal grants from this program between 2020-2025 to support its specialized expertise in marine mammal conservation and emergency response services along the northeastern U.S. coastline.

Marine mammals of maine responds to stranded marine mammals in mid-coast and southern maine and provides triage and rehabilitation services for pinnipeds in need of short- and long-term care that strand throughout the northeast US. This is a region currently experiencing three large whale unusual mortality events (umes) and that has experienced several pinniped umes over the past two decades, making IT a priority area for enhancing the collection and reporting of level a, b, and c data from stranded marine mammals. To support ongoing UME and post-UME monitoring, we propose to: 1) conduct high quality response, treatment, and data collection from live and dead stranded marine mammals, including biological sampling, necropsies, and diagnostic screening; 2) enhance organizational data management processes to facilitate more timely data sharing through reporting to regional and national database systems; 3) conduct dedicated outreach to local municipalities identified as stranding hotspots during recent and ongoing umes to promote rapid real-time reporting; and 4) broaden participation in the marine mammal field through our summer internship, community engagement and volunteer training programs.