Marine Mammals Of Maine

Marine Mammals Of Maine is a non-profit organization based in Brunswick, Maine, that serves as a critical stranding response and rehabilitation center for marine mammals throughout the Northeast U.S. coastline. The organization functions as the sole marine mammal stranding response provider serving the Maine coast from Kittery to Rockland and operates one of only two rehabilitation centers in the Northeast currently providing care for dependent pinnipeds. Through its federal contracting and grant-making relationships, Marine Mammals Of Maine delivers specialized marine mammal health assessment, emergency response, rehabilitation, and scientific data collection services that support the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's conservation and monitoring objectives.

Marine Mammals Of Maine has secured one prime federal contract award from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration valued at $96,885. This purchase order contract, awarded on July 1, 2023, and extending through December 31, 2026, provides for "Pinniped Health Assessment Services (Base Plus 2 Option Years)" to be delivered at NOAA facilities in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Through this contract, the organization supports NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service and Northeast Fisheries Science Center in assessing the health of seal and sea lion populations along the northeastern U.S. coastline. The contract carries no set-aside designation and represents Marine Mammals Of Maine's leveraging of its extensive experience conducting marine mammal stranding response, rehabilitation, and outreach services in direct support of NOAA's mission to monitor disease and support state agencies in assessing fishery impacts on protected species.

Marine Mammals Of Maine has demonstrated significant success in securing federal grant funding, having received five prime Project Grant awards under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Marine Mammal Data Program (CFDA 11.439) totaling over $1 million in cumulative funding. These grants, awarded between August 2021 and January 2026, have provided $244,804 (2021-2022), $305,000 (2022-2023), $149,825 (2023-2024), $177,723 (2025), and $128,066 (2026) respectively to support comprehensive marine mammal stranding response, rehabilitation, and data collection operations in mid-coast and southern Maine. The grants fund critical services including live and dead stranded marine mammal response and treatment, biological sampling and necropsy examinations, infectious disease monitoring, data management and reporting to regional and national databases, community outreach to stranding hotspots, volunteer training, and capacity building through facility improvements and internship programs. These grants directly address the organization's response to multiple unusual mortality events affecting both pinniped and cetacean populations, including highly pathogenic avian influenza detection, and support management of emerging human-wildlife conflicts related to seal population increases. Additionally, Marine Mammals Of Maine received a federal sub-grant award on November 27, 2023, from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to support response activities during the Northeast Pinniped Unusual Mortality Event in Maine, enabling the organization to restock supplies and increase its stranding event response capacity.