NFWF Grant Profile

We request Emergency Prescott support for the Marine Mammal Rescue Nantucket Team to fill a gap in coverage in the Nantucket Historic District: Nantucket, Tuckernuck and Muskeget islands. We respond to strandings, injuries and dead and dying marine mammals. We educate the public about marine mammals and train our volunteers. For 33 years, a Nantucket Stranding team worked under the New England Aquarium’s Stranding Agreement, ended 1 January 2014. We obtained our own Stranding agreement mid-February 2018. With no Stranding Agreement for four years, there was a credible gap in the GARFO network. We have little to no equipment; our first team training in 10 years was in October 2018. With our Provisional Stranding Agreement, we can fill this outstanding gap in the network. Our request for funds includes training, equipment, travel, data collection/dissemination and operating expenses for a Team on isolated islands with large marine mammal populations and increasing human interactions.