Central PugetSound Marine Mammal Stranding Network

Dear Global Giving Givers,

We want to thank you for your generous donations that have allowed us to finally hire a Stranding Network Volunteer Coordinator. This has become a monstrous task through the years due mainly to the volume of calls and responses for harbor seal pups during the summer birthing season, as well as increased Harbor porpoise strandings and other stranding calls throughout the year.

Last year we received a total of 314 reports of stranded marine mammals resulting in many hours of acknowledging phone calls and emails, and organizing volunteers for on site responses. So far this year we have received 138 calls, with the busy summer and seal pupping seasons still to come.

Hiring a volunteer coordinator to handle these calls both incoming and outgoing, and following up on these marine mammal strandings has allowed Orca Network Executive Director Susan Berta time to more efficiently coordinate the numerous functions of the Orca Network (projects besides the CPSMMSN include the Langley Whale Center, Whale Sighting Network, Campaign to retire Lolita/Tokitae the orca, and Education/Outreach programs); and the Stranding Network Coordinator/Archivist (Sandra Dubpernell) to complete the records and database in a more timely manner, providing information to NOAA Fisheries for the National Marine Mammal Stranding database.

Our new Stranding Network Volunteer coordinator is Garry Heinrich. Garry has many years experience on the high seas as Master of an historic tall ship traveling the Pacific Coast and has learned much about the creatures that inhabit the ocean. He is also a retired Middle School Teacher, and has spent several years serving as a volunteer for our CPSMMSN. He is well qualified to organize our volunteers to respond to strandings, and to assist in response to strandings and providing education and reassurance to the general public.

Garry has already been busy with our resident Elephant seal and her pups - especially Ellison, the two year old male who hauls out on a small island and has seen a little too much human interaction this season. Garry has been meeting the neighborhood folks, and Sandra will be speaking at their Home Owners Association meeting to educate them about Elephant seals, since Ellison has adopted their neighborhood as his home and returns for several months each year. 

Garry has also been busy handling seal pup calls, and a dead stranded Harbor seal and sea lion during his first month of work. We are so thankful to have his help, and to have YOUR help in supporting and enabling us to hire some part time help!

We have also continued our investigations into dead stranded Harbor porpoise, with two porpoise being necropsied in June, on the 1st and the 8th. These were fresh specimens which is helpful in detecting cause of death and any diseases or pathogens. Both were males, and thus far the samples collected and tested show they both had some serious health issues, but we are conducting further tests to determine the exact causes of death for each case, and to identify what appear to be some unique findings among the samples collected. We will report more on these porpoise in our next report.

Your funds help us to conduct these necropsies (paying our excellent Marine Mammal Veterinarian Dr. Stephanie Norman), and pay for the testing of samples, which can be over $1000 per sample for some of the tests. But the results of these porpoise investigations help us better understand the health of all cetaceans living in the Salish Sea, including the endangered Southern Resident orcas, of whom only 75 remain.

Please consider making an extra contribution this next month or so, to help us conduct the further testing needed to identify new pathogens/diseases that provide important information about the health of the Salish Sea and all of us who live here.

Thank you again for your continued support!

Links:

• NOAA publication: Sharing the Shore with Seal Pups
• Central Puget Sound MMSN website pages - Orca Network