New whale rescue gear lands at Dauphin Island Sea Lab: How it’s used
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The Dauphin Island Sea Lab’s Alabama Marine Mammal Stranding Network (ALMMSN) has new tools to help rescue stranded whales along the Gulf Coast.
Alabama Marine Mammal Stranding Network adds whale flotation pontoons
ALMMSN received two whale flotation pontoons back in June, according to Dauphin Island Sea Lab’s (DISL) website. The specialized equipment is funded through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and provided by British Divers Marine Life Rescue. It’s engineered to lift up to five tons and is designed to support rescue efforts for medium-sized whales.
DISL is one of four organizations selected to receive the pontoons as part of a regional preparedness effort spanning the Gulf. The other recipients are:
- Mote Marine Laboratory
- The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
- The Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network
James McKenzie, area coordinator for Fife Stirling Shire, and Martin Boon, a BDMLR trustee, delivered the equipment and trained DISL/ALMMSN staff along with partners from the Audubon Aquarium Rescue Team in New Orleans. The training was a joint effort with BDMLR and the Southeast United States Regional Stranding Network.
ALMMSN also received two inflatable practice whales to use in future training exercises.
Two decades of stranding response work in Alabama
ALMMSN has worked for years as part of the Gulf’s stranding response network, responding to reports of stranded dolphins, whales, and manatees along the Alabama coast.
The network typically handles 20-40 cetacean (dolphins, whales or porpoises) strandings and 1-6 manatee strandings each year, according to DISL.
Alabama’s coast has seen rare, high-profile strandings before, including a 40-foot sperm whale that washed ashore in Fort Morgan in December 2024 — only the second confirmed sperm whale stranding in the state’s history at the time.
To report a stranded marine mammal in Alabama, call 1-877-WHALE-HELP.
