We will be giving an in-person training on April 27th at 10 AM. It will be at the WECU in Ferndale on a Saturday. You need to pre-register, as there is paperwork to fill out. If you are interested in the training please contact Victoria at vsouze56@gmail.com
Videos coming soon! Three of our rehabbed seals were released last week successfully. Photo courtesy of SR3.
We will be giving responder training by Zoom on December 10th, 2022 at 10 AM. If you are interested, please email Victoria at vsouze56@gmail.com. Include your mailing address so I can send a flash drive with valuable information and educational brochures. Also send a picture of yourself. We make laminated ID badges that are to be carried when doing field work. They help identify you and that you are a part of our Stranding Network. If you work, have children, or are in school, that’s fine. You respond when you can. The training takes about 2 hours.
Pascal was sent to Wolf Hollow Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation last July. After a successful rehab, he was released on October 1st. Seal pups are picked up when they are orphaned/abandoned from human interaction. In the wild, a seal pup only nurses for four to six weeks, but if human activity causes the mother to abandon her pup, then we will lend a hand. Dogs and people getting too close to seal pups during this crucial short nursing phase, can cause the mom to abandon her pup.
Harbor Porpoise Phocoena phocoena are in Birch Bay, Bellingham Bay, Whitehorn region and all coastal areas here in Whatcom County. They prefer shallow, cold coastal waters. They do not have an especially playful attitude and hardly ever leap above the water. How do you look for them? Look for a glint of sunlight on the water and a quick small grey porpoise breaking the surface of the water. Their dorsal fins are not very big. An adult porpoise is about 5 to 6 feet in length and about 150 to 175 lbs. Also look for flocks of birds feeding They feed on the same small fish, so while the birds are feeding at the surface of the water, the porpoise are feeding beneath. They travel in small groups of two to five members. The females have one calf every one to two years. They are polygynandrous, with two or more males mating with a female. Right now, is when the calves are being born. Look for a small porpoise staying close to its mother. When the calf is first born, they have “fetal folds”. These will last for a few hours to a couple of days after the calf is born. The calves will nurse for 8 to 12 months, and start eating solid food at around five months of age.
Sometimes, a porpoise may become “stranded” in shallow water. The Whitehorn region here is an area where we often get reports of harbor porpoise out on the mud flats. They have usually come in to the shallow water and become “stuck” with the tide quickly going out. Please don’t attempt to put a porpoise back in the water. Sometimes with the incoming tide, the porpoise will be able to swim away. Call us at 360 966 8845.
There is no evidence that Marine Mammals carry the Covid - 19 virus. There has been some indication of this in social media. IT IS NOT CORRECT!
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/noaa-fisheries-coronavirus-covid-19-update
Come and visit our educational booth at the Wings Over Water Festival on March 21 from 9:00 to 5:00. We will be at the Blaine Middle school all day with our skulls, whale bones and other educational materials.
Come learn about the marine mammals that live in our area, their role in environmental health and how the stranding network attributes to their survival through research and response. From whales to harbor seals, we get calls about them all!
Tickets available at Eventbrite and at the door. $10.00 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/marine-mammals-of-the-salish-sea-and-how-the-stranding-network-responds-tickets-85163066023
Join us for an evening aboard the historic Schooner Zodiac. We will help raise the sails and enjoy a sunset and moon rise over Bellingham Bay. The full moon is three days away. Dinner will be a vegetarian option or salmon.
There will be a no host full bar available.
This will be our third annual dinner cruise. Tickets are $100 and are available through Eventbrite.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/schooner-zodiac-dinner-cruise-tickets-56822468533?aff=ebdssbdestsearch
This year our award goes to Shawn Northouse. We can’t believe how lucky we are to have her as part of our organization.
The award is named after Bob Ryerson who passed away in 2011. He was a volunteer who was with us from the beginning and was a shining star in our organization.
WMMSN is excited to be collaborating with Stephanie Norman and several other stranding networks and partners to study antibiotic-resistant bacteria in Puget Sound. Check out this article about the project from Hakai Magazine!
Read more about the study here: https://experiment.com/projects/do-urban-marine-mammals-of-the-pacific-northwest-carry-antibiotic-resistant-bacteria-from-humans-or-terrestrial-animals
Welcome to our new website, which is still under construction. The calendar is updated for the next month, but please check back as we continue to add more content.
You can also find us on our FaceBook page: Whatcom Marine Mammal Stranding Network
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