Marine Mammal Strandings

The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies (IMMS) has been actively involved in the rescue, rehabilitation, release and research of stranded marine animals since its establishment in 1984. We are an active participant of the National Stranding Network and respond to all reported marine mammal strandings along the coast of Mississippi, as well as many live strandings within our neighboring states of Louisiana and Alabama.

Largely, stranding events still remain an enigma to the marine mammal scientific community since many times the cause of death of the animals is unclear. For this reason, many other coastal areas of the U.S. study stranded animals as well to better understand why this phenomenon occurs in nature.

Over the years IMMS has been involved in a number of live strandings. Some of the photos and stories of these past and present rescues can be viewed on this site. However, not all strandings are live, in fact the vast majority of animals that strand are dead. Though there are different species of marine animals that strand, most of them found along the Mississippi coast are Atlantic bottlenose dolphins, as they are by far the most abundant marine mammal in the Mississippi Sound.

Why study dead dolphins? This is a question many people ask when they learn of stranding research. The reason is because we can retrieve an enormous amount of information from the animal remains. By studying the geographic location of the stranded animal, the size and condition of the remains, tissue analysis, teeth, and other such important data, we can extract information about possible causes of death, trends in dolphin strandings, the estimated geographic origin of the animal, and the overall health of the dolphin populations that inhabit these waters.

Dolphins are at the top of the food chain in their marine environment, which makes them a great indicator species of the overall health of their ecosystem (the ocean waters they inhabit). If we identify an environmental problem through studying the dolphins, we as humans can expect to be next in line to be affected by this same problem as we live on some of the same fish and other creatures found in these waters. In addition, coastal communities by definition live next to the ocean and use the waters for other commercial and recreational purposes that can affect human health. By studying the stranded dolphins we can attempt to monitor the health of the dolphin populations in local waters and the health of the entire ecosystem. We can then use this information to better manage our resources and to take the best care possible of the wild dolphins and the oceans in which they live.