Marine Mammal Rescue

A commitment to driving hope

Embracing the highest tenets of animal welfare and robust science for over 20 years, we have evolved into one of the most respected global marine mammal stranding response programs.

1st

minke whale in the world to be satellite tagged and successfully rescued

5,600

marine mammal stranding responses since 1998

460

dolphins have been rescued

Our team encounters marine mammals affected by fishing gear entanglements, ocean noise, vessel collisions, and climate change. If we don’t act now, these threats facing marine life will lead to species extinction and will have devastating effects on our planet.

photo taken under NMFS permit 18786 © IFAW

Saving Lives & Advancing Research

Every distress call is an opportunity to advance what we know about marine life and how to help it thrive. Through years of data, we proved that individual stranded dolphins deemed healthy can be successfully released and reintegrated back into a pod. Our team has developed rapid and effective response techniques that have increased the survival rate of stranded animals. In the late 1990s, we were only able to release 1 in 10 rescued dolphins……today, that number is 7 in 10.

Along with breaking records in 2019 during the busiest year in our history, our team also reached a milestone achievement in responding to 5,000 individual animals since the program’s inception. Marine mammal response on Cape Cod has become both a center of innovation and a symbol of hope for the global rescue community.

Learning From Every Response

Our lifesaving efforts in the field and innovative research, like the use of remote sedation to aid in the disentanglement of large whales and pinnipeds, have revolutionized how marine mammals are rescued, assessed, and released. We take this knowledge and work with partners around the world to implement what we have learned. Our gold standard practices have transformed global marine stranding responses and brought forth groundbreaking outcomes accumulated from years of field experience.

And why do we do this? Because individual animals matter.

Rescue center boosts survival for stranded dolphins on Cape Cod

See project

fishing nets don’t just trap, they kill

See project

When the tide is low, the stakes are high for marine mammals

See project

veterinary medicine and drone technology can help free whales trapped in fishing gear

See project

pollution is killing marine mammals, we’re saving them

See project