Marine Life in Distress
Marine Life in Distress
Seeing marine animals in their natural habitat can be exciting. Unfortunately, not all marine life you may encounter will be healthy. You may come across animals in distress—entangled in marine debris or fishing gear, sick, or injured—or dead.
Understandably, when most people see a dolphin or a sea turtle that appears to be in trouble, the first impulse is to try to rescue it. But that is likely not be the best option for the animal or the person trying to help. These wild animals may be sick, injured, disoriented, or starving. They could have been exposed to pollution or a natural toxin, entangled in fishing gear, struck by a vessel, or infected by a disease or parasite. Their reactions may be unpredictable, and it can be dangerous to try to touch or move them. Only trained and authorized responders should assist marine animals in distress.
Reporting a sick, injured, entangled, or dead animal is the best way to ensure that professional authorized responders and scientists know about the incident and can take appropriate action. Always keep a safe distance—it’s good advice, and it's the law.
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More Information
- Report a Stranded or Injured Marine Animal
- Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program
- Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network
- Unusual Mortality Events
- John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance Grant Program
- Frequent Questions—Offshore Wind and Whales
- Frequent Questions—Marine Mammal Necropsies
100+ organizations authorized to respond to marine mammals in distress
NOAA has authorized more than 100 organizations around the country to respond to marine mammals in distress, each with different rescue, rehabilitation, response, and investigation specialties. Network members include professionals and volunteers from nonprofit organizations, aquaria, universities, museums, and state and local governments who are trained in stranding or entanglement response, animal evaluation, and administration of animal care.
64 unusual mortality events since 1991
Bottlenose dolphins, California sea lions, and manatees are the marine life most commonly involved in unusual mortality events. Causes have been determined for 32 of the 64 events documented since 1991 including infections, biotoxins, human interactions such as vessel strikes, and malnutrition.
20+ organizations/agencies assist sea turtles in distress
The Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network responds to and collects information on marine turtle strandings along the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic coasts. The network, which includes federal, state and private partners, encompasses coastal areas from Maine to Texas, and includes portions of the U.S. Caribbean. Other turtle response organizations respond to marine turtle strandings along the West Coast and Pacific Islands/Hawaii.
Marine Mammal Strandings
Stranded marine mammals sometimes come onto shore, dead or alive. NOAA works with trained partners in every coastal state to respond to and assess the condition of reported animals, and in certain cases attempt to rehabilitate or relocate them. If an animal is dead, responders may perform a necropsy (animal autopsy) to learn more about the animal and what may have caused the stranding. When elevated marine mammal stranding rates occur over a longer time period the Marine Mammal Protection Act sets out a process to evaluate these stranding and mortality events and determine whether they should be designated as unusual mortality events, which trigger a specific investigative response.
Learn more about the Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program
Sea Turtle Strandings
A stranded sea turtle is one that is found on land or in the water dead, injured, sick, or exhibiting usual behavior. One of the most well-known examples of mass strandings is when cold-stunned sea turtles strand during winter months on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. During these events, thousands of turtles may require care. The Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network responds to and collects data on strandings of marine turtles along the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic coasts, while NOAA’s Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center’s Marine Turtle Biology and Assessment Program rehabilitates and studies stranded sea turtles throughout the Hawaiian Islands. Other state and local organizations respond to sea turtle strandings on the U.S. West Coast.
Learn more about the Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network
Entanglement
Marine animals occasionally swim into fishing gear or marine debris and get entangled, stuck, injured, or even killed. Entanglements may prevent the recovery of endangered and threatened marine mammal and sea turtle populations. Prompt reporting is the best way to assist an entangled animal. For the safety of the animals and people involved, only trained and authorized responders should attempt to disentangle a whale, dolphin, porpoise, seal, sea lion, or sea turtle. Many animals can be successfully disentangled and released. The information gained from the response goes back into research and management to ultimately prevent future entanglements.
Vessel Strikes
Collisions with ships and boats are one of the primary human-caused threats to marine mammals, particularly large whales. In fact, vessel strikes are the leading human-caused source of mortality for the endangered North Atlantic right whale. The West and East coasts of the United States have some of the heaviest vessel traffic associated with some of the largest ports in the country. Encouraging responsible boating practices and understanding where and when whales may be present are key components to reducing the risk of vessel strikes in these areas. Boat strikes by recreational vessels are also a concern for several sea turtle species, particularly in the southeast. To prevent vessel strikes, NOAA Fisheries recommends that recreational vessels maintain a distance of at least 50 yards from all marine animals, including sea turtles.
Conservation Medicine
Stranded marine animals are an important source of information for scientists. Studying the reasons that animals come ashore provides clues about ocean conditions and the health of coastal ecosystems. Animals can be sampled to quantify contaminant levels in tissues and alert researchers to emerging diseases. Marine mammal tissue and blood samples collected in the field may be stored for analysis at the National Marine Mammal Tissue Bank. Knowing what may have caused an animal to strand helps us enhance conservation efforts for threatened and endangered species.
Understanding Marine Wildlife Stranding and Response
Learn about strandings of marine mammals and sea turtles and how NOAA Fisheries and partners respond to these animals in distress.

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Conservation & Management
Whether it’s a cold-stunned sea turtle in New England, a sick monk seal on a beach in Hawaii, or an entangled whale off the coast of California, NOAA and our partners work together to respond to marine animals in distress along every coast of the United States.
Several programs are in place to ensure timely response and data collection for entangled, sick, or injured animals, as well as those that have been found dead at sea or on the shoreline.
Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response
The Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program coordinates emergency response and investigations for sick, injured, entangled, or dead seals, sea lions, dolphins, porpoises, and whales.
Stranding and Entanglement Networks
NOAA Fisheries works with a diverse network of independent organizations as well as local, tribal, state, and federal agencies to oversee and coordinate emergency response for stranded or entangled marine mammals. And we ensure that all activities are performed in a manner that is safe for responders and animals alike. Stranding network members are authorized to respond to strandings through Stranding Agreements issued by NOAA Fisheries’ regional offices. The network members provide staff and local response capabilities, independently raising funds to cover the majority of their costs. Only trained and authorized responders should assist a marine animal in distress.
Learn more about networks around the country:
Entanglement Response
Entanglement response teams are located around the country to respond to whales, dolphins, seals, and sea lions that become entangled in fishing gear or marine debris. Responders receive highly specialized training to assist animals in the wild.
Entanglement responders are authorized through permits issued by the National Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and also under the Endangered Species Act for marine mammals listed as endangered or threatened.
Learn more about large whale entanglement response around the country:
Learn more in general about entanglement of marine life.
Sea Turtle Stranding and Response
A network of scientists and volunteers collects information on and documents strandings of marine turtles along the coasts of the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. The network encompasses the coastal areas of an 18-state region from Maine to Texas, and includes portions of the U.S. Caribbean. Learn more about the Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network.
NOAA’s Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, Marine Turtle Biology and Assessment Program rehabilitates and studies stranded sea turtles throughout the Hawaiian Islands.
Other state and local organizations respond to sea turtle strandings on the U.S. West Coast.
Unusual Mortality Events
An unusual mortality event is defined under the Marine Mammal Protection Act as a stranding that is unexpected; involves a significant die-off of any marine mammal population; and demands immediate response.
The Marine Mammal UME Program was established in 1991. Since then, there have been 64 formally recognized UMEs in the United States involving a variety of species and dozens to thousands of individual animals per event.
A working group of marine mammal experts and scientists determine when the circumstances of a stranding event meet the criteria to be considered a UME, and then direct the appropriate responses and data collection.
Learn more about marine mammal unusual mortality events
John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance Grant Program
The Prescott Grant Program provides competitive grants and cooperative agreements to eligible stranding network members for:
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Recovery and treatment (i.e., rehabilitation) of stranded marine mammals.
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Data collection from living or dead stranded marine mammals.
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Facility upgrades, operation costs, and staffing needs directly related to the recovery and treatment of stranded marine mammals and collection of data from living or dead stranded animals.
Science
Investigations of stranding and mortality events increase our understanding of the health of marine animals, and therefore the health of our oceans. Strandings provide scientists and managers with important information on the biology and life history of animals including geographic range, age, genetics, types of prey consumed, and the occurrence of injury and disease. Some marine mammal species are known only from stranded specimens. Information from live and dead stranded animals can also be used to improve the care for animals in rehabilitation.
Strandings can also provide important information on human impacts to marine animals. Data collected from stranded marine mammals and turtles can teach us about harmful fishery interactions, vessel strikes, or marine debris—by knowing this, we can better manage human activities to minimize or mitigate these impacts.
Samples collected from stranded animals also provide information on marine pollution. For example, high levels of chemical contaminants in a dolphin's body could have direct implications for human health. They consume many of the same fish that we do and acquired those contaminants through their prey.
Stranding Response and Data Collection
Marine Mammals
When response teams are deployed to help sick, injured, or stranded animals, the data collected are compiled in a national marine mammal health and stranding database. Learn more:
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Marine Mammal Stranding Report: Level A Data – forms used by stranding networks in the collection of marine mammal stranding data
Sea Turtles
The Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network has documented large numbers of stranded sea turtles in the north-central Gulf of Mexico since 2010. Data are compiled through the efforts of network participants who document sea turtle strandings in their respective areas and contribute those data to a the centralized database.
Learn more about the number of sea turtle strandings in the Gulf of Mexico
Biosurveillance and Baseline Health Research
In recent years, high concentrations of potentially toxic substances in marine mammals and diseases not previously reported have been documented. These studies contribute to a growing, worldwide effort of marine mammal biomonitoring—not only to help assess the health and contaminant loads of marine mammals, but also to assist in determining anthropogenic impacts on marine mammals, marine food chains, and marine ecosystem health.
National Marine Mammal Tissue Bank
The National Marine Mammal Tissue Bank provides protocols for the storage of tissue and blood samples collected from marine mammals. These samples can then be used for retrospective analyses to determine environmental trends of contaminants and support other research studies.
Trained individuals collect samples during stranding events, disease investigations, mortality events, and health assessments. Samples may also be obtained from bycatch animals.
What You Can Do
If you see an entangled, stranded, sick, injured, or dead animal, please report it. Keep your distance from the animal to prevent further stress to it and possible injury to you both.
Marine Mammals—whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals, and sea lions
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Call your local stranding network.
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Or, use our Dolphin & Whale 911 iPhone/iPad app.
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Use your camera or cell phone to take a photo of the animal from a safe distance. This can help responders identify the species and the steps necessary to help it.
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Wait (if you can) for a trained and authorized responder to arrive so you can help them locate the animal. Watch it from a safe distance.
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Don’t chase or corral the injured animal if it tries to move away.
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Keep the area calm and quiet (to the extent you can) and encourage others to keep their distance and keep dogs on a leash.
Sea Turtles
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Call your local sea turtle stranding coordinator:
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Wait (if you can) for a trained and authorized responder to arrive so you can help them locate the animal. Watch it from a safe distance.
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Don’t chase or corral the injured animal if it tries to move away.
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Keep the area calm and quiet (to the extent you can) and encourage others to keep their distance and keep dogs on a leash.
Learn More
- Report incidents of people or pets tormenting, disturbing, or attempting to touch a marine mammal or sea turtle. Contact NOAA’s National Enforcement Hotline at (800) 853-1964.
- Always observe marine life from a safe distance. Read our marine life viewing guidelines.
- Report marine debris/derelict fishing gear. Learn about marine debris.
- Consider donating to the Unusual Mortality Event Contingency Fund and help support ongoing UME investigations.
Documents
National Report on Large Whale Entanglements Confirmed in the United States in 2021
This report provides a summary of large whale entanglements that occurred in U.S. waters in 2021.
The John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance Grant Program Report FY 2016–2020
John H. Prescott Grant Program Report FY 2016-2020
2019 Report of Marine Mammal Strandings in the United States: National and Regional Overviews
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Outreach & Education
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Marine Mammal Strandings FAQ Rack Card for the Pacific Islands Region
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