The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group and British Divers Marine Life Rescue are thrilled to share the news that they were awarded funds in 2023 by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to deliver a marine mammal emergency response project for Northern Ireland.
The charities collaborated to submit a project proposal that has been approved by DAERA to fund rescue equipment for whales, dolphins, porpoises (collectively known as cetaceans) and seals in distress around the Northern Ireland coastline and to provide training courses around the Northern Ireland coastline over the next four years. This includes kit such as specialist whale refloatation pontoons, dolphin stretchers, drysuits, lifejackets, trailer and personal protective equipment, which will be stationed at strategic locations around the coast for trained responders to access in an emergency.
Gemma O’Connor, IWDG’s Live Strandings Network Coordinator, commented “cetaceans, especially dolphins can get into difficulty and become stranded alive on the shore for a number of reasons, including serious illness, injury, malnourishment or simply getting disoriented in unfamiliar habitats such as tidal estuaries where they can get caught out. They need specialist care and veterinary advice to provide for their welfare and help reach the best decisions for the animal based on careful assessment of the facts of the situation.”
BDMLR’s Director of Operations, Julia Cable, said “over the next four years we’ll be working together to provide two ‘Marine Mammal Medic’ training courses per year for members of the public to join and grow the response team across Northern Ireland.”
“Seals, especially pups, can also get into trouble for health reasons, and increasingly we’re seeing climate change-influenced weather events impacting them alongside human disturbance and pollution. We’ll be engaging with Northern Ireland’s only seal rehabilitation facility at Exploris to support their work by increasing our collective ability to respond quickly and help monitor and assess seals in situ” she added.
“They’ll be taught marine mammal identification, biology, health assessment, first aid, rescue techniques, decision making and health and safety via online lectures. These will be followed by a practical training day with life size models of a whale, dolphin and seal pup to get hands on with instructors teaching them how to use those techniques and specialist equipment to prepare them for the real thing.”
There have been a few dolphin live strandings in the Northern Ireland recently, including a mother-calf pair of common dolphins that were successfully refloated in Strangford Lough last August, and a pair of Risso’s dolphins in Lough Foyle in June this year. However, more support is needed for the existing limited team to increase the number of trained responders and kit available for these situations.
The first joint training courses are due to be held at Groomsport and Portrush in August, which are available to book now by visiting the ‘Courses’ section of the BDMLR website.
