Marine Animal Rescue Program
- The National Aquarium in Baltimore is a member of the Northeast Region of the National Stranding Network through an agreement with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Service.
- The National Aquarium in Baltimore’s Marine Animal Rescue Program (MARP) responds to animal strandings in the coastal areas of Virginia, Maryland and Delaware.
- MARP’s mission is to rescue, rehabilitate and release stranded animals back into the natural environment whenever possible; share knowledge with the scientific community; and provide public educational programs through special events and presentations.
- A specially trained staff of animal care specialists, volunteers, veterinary technicians and veterinarians respond to stranded animals twenty-four hours a day.
- The MARP program has returned more than 50 animals back to the natural environment, including sea turtles, seals, dolphins and whales.
- Half of MARP’s patients are sick or injured due to human-related activities like boat strikes, gear entanglement or plastic ingestion. Weather, malnourishment, exhaustion and pollution also contribute to strandings. Stranding is frequently an animal's last effort at survival.
- In addition to caring for stranded animals, MARP staff and volunteers participate in the East Coast Stranding Network’s annual coastal dolphin census. This census provides information to NOAA Fisheries Service on the status and health of local dolphin populations.
- Rescuing and studying stranded animals provides vital information about the status of the ocean and coastal environments, as well as the biology and health of the animals that live in those environments.
- Rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing marine animals are costly processes in terms of both funding and manpower. For example, caring for a stranded seal costs thousands of dollars.
