MARINE MAMMAL STRANDING CENTER - ATLANTIC OCEAN : SEA MAMMALS and SEA TURTLES HEALED and RETURNED TO SEA : BEACHED WHALE INVESTIGATIONS

MARINE MAMMAL STRANDING CENTER  Dedicated to responding to marine mammals and sea turtles along all of New Jersey's waterways...  When an animal cannot be released, it is kept at the facility and given a place to live.

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Excerpt:  MMSC's Large Whale and Dolphin Response.

The Marine Mammal Stranding Center continues to be on the front line as the first responders during the recent increase in whale strandings that began in December 2022.  As a member of the Greater Atlantic Marine Mammal Stranding Network, we are the boots on the ground working together with or fellow network members to help find the answers.  The work that we perform is the first step in many that will bring us closer to understanding why we are seeing so may whale standings along the East Coast.

ANGRY DOLPHIN

 

DOLPHIN

 

HAPPY DOLPHIN

 

DOLPHIN

 This guy does not look too happy.  He looks like he's on the beach...

 

DOLPHIN WITH SPOUT

 

HURRICANE IDA STRANDED DOLPHIN RESCUED

MSN HURRICANE POND DOLPHIN RESCUED  Nemerous groups cooperated together to  rescue the dolphin in fresh water and return him to the sea.  It turns out animals stranded in fresh water is not uncommon.  Hurricane Ida also deposited alligators.

DOLPHIN SKIN DISEASE TIED INTO CLIMATE CHANGE

PHYS ORG : DOLPHIN SKIN DISEASE - 70 % OF BODY - GLOBAL WARMING 

EXCERPT :  ... it is the first time since the disease first appeared in 2005 that scientists have been able to link a cause to the condition that affects coastal dolphin communities worldwide.  Due to the decreased water salinity brought upon by climate change, the dolphins develop patchy and raised skin lesions across their bodies - sometimes covering upwards of 7% of their skin.

.... This study comes on the heels of significant outbreaks in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Texas and Australia in recent years.  In all of these locations, a sudden and drastic decrease in salinity in the waters was the common factor.  Coastal dolphins are accustomed to seasonal changes in salinity levels in their marine habitat, but they do not live in freshwater.  The increasing severity and frequency of storm events like hurricanes and cyclones, particularly if they are preceded by drought conditions, are dumping unusual volumes of rain that turn coastal waters to freshwater.