As part of Thank You Week, Cornwall Wildlife Trust is celebrating the dedication of over 250 volunteers who work with their globally recognised Marine Strandings Network. Recording animals that wash up on Cornwall’s coasts, these volunteers collect world class data, some of which has never been recorded previously.

Now in its 20^th year with Cornwall Wildlife Trust, the Marine Strandings Network exists to investigate the lives of elusive and sometimes rare animals that live in the sea and are usually incredibly hard to study. Although sad, these wash ins provide information on many things, including marine wildlife distribution, diet, behaviour, and threats such as the effects of pollution.

This work is more important than ever, with the recent Avian flu discovery in stranded seals and dolphins and the need to understand this horrific disease in wildlife better.

Without these local and dedicated volunteers, this scientific data would not exist. It is recognised by governing bodies and used by scientists to better understand our coastal marine megafauna and the pressures they face. The research has put significant pressure on the government to tackle serious threats like bycatch (accidental entanglement in fishing gear), which the Marine Strandings Network has proven to be one of the top causes of death in dolphins and porpoises.

Evidence collected by the network was used to raise the issue of bycatch, with Cornwall Wildlife Trust and other charities lobbying for a change in Government policy. In 2004, EU Regulation 812 was introduced to increase the protection of dolphins and porpoises against accidentally being trapped in fishing gear. The regulations included compulsory use of acoustic devices and an observer scheme to monitor bycatch.

With huge numbers of common dolphins dying in nets the size of football pitches, pressure from Cornwall Wildlife Trust encouraged the UK Government to introduce a ban on ‘pair trawl fishery’, which involves nets being dragged between to fishing vessels. The practice is banned within 12 nautical miles of the English coast.

Cornwall Wildlife Trust now sits on regional and national working groups, such as Clean Catch, a collaborative research programme that brings together scientists and fishers, to monitor and help reduce the accidental capture of wildlife by commercial fishing vessels.

Over 250 volunteers are part of the active crew, operating the 24-hour strandings hotline or going out onto the beaches to record, photograph, and tag the animals which wash in around our shores. Around a dozen volunteers are involved in post-mortem work.

The volunteer network became formally associated with Cornwall Wildlife Trust in 2003 with volunteers Jan and Jeff Loverage at the helm, who developed comprehensive reporting and recording systems. They also launched the emergency hotline which lies at the heart of the citizen science project and is operated 24/7 entirely by volunteers trained to respond to the report of a dead or stranded marine animal anywhere along Cornwall's coastline. If you find a dead marine animal, call the strandings hotline immediately: 0345 201 2626.

The work volunteers do is not always easy. Abby Crosby, Cornwall Wildlife Trust’s Marine Conservation Officer, said: “It is really upsetting. It’s not just the fact you’re dealing with sometimes quite gruesome subject matter, it’s also that these are really beautiful creatures. The glamorous megafauna – the whales, the dolphins, the porpoises – are species that people love, so it’s emotionally difficult to see them washed up on the beach.”

Thank You Week 2023

The Marine Strandings Network