June 17, 2013 — Nash, a retired biologist, is one of about 35 New England Aquarium volunteers on Martha’s Vineyard who are trained to observe, assess, record, and in some instances, help rescue marine mammals that turn up on the beaches, according to Kerry McNally, the biologist who supervises field volunteers for the aquarium’s rescue and rehabilitation department.
The aquarium is responsible for the welfare of marine mammals from Maine to Plymouth. The jurisdiction does not include Cape Cod or Southeastern Massachusetts, which is handled by another agency (The International Fund for Animal Welfare) but includes Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. Because of the logistics of getting out to the islands from Boston, McNally says they rely heavily on trained volunteers as first responders.
When marine mammals — seals, dolphins, porpoises, and whales — turn up on beaches, the aquarium needs a volunteer to assess the situation, whether the animal is healthy or in need of rescue.
Volunteers are also asked to collect data on the marine mammal corpses found on beaches so that the aquarium can see trends in the population, McNally says.
The data, which is recorded nationally, is useful in learning about potential diseases that may be killing marine animals, a new strain of influenza, for example, as well as human interaction — entanglement in fishing lines — or worse.
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