Marine mammal strandings – talk

Marine Mammal Strandings – the science and a bird’s eye view

Skye is privileged to share its coastline with a wonderful marine mammal population, but unfortunately entanglements and strandings of these amazing animals do occur.

In this slideshow talk, locals Zoe Scott-Green and Anthony Rigell will shed some light on the reasons behind such strandings and the tools now being used to help monitor and predict them.

Zoe is a researcher working on projects concerned with reducing marine entanglement and improving sustainable fishing practices. Zoe will present the results of her research on how environmental variables might help in forecasting strandings in common dolphins, drawing on twenty years of  data from the Scottish Marine Mammal Stranding Scheme (SMASS) and the National Oceanography Centre.

Anthony is a local drone operator who uses his skills to assist with marine mammal strandings and entanglements. He will be sharing stories and videos from such events and how a bird’s eye view can offer insights on how to change the outcomes for these animals.