A team of scientists in Inverness are rejoicing this week after securing vital funding to keep their research alive until 2021.
Inverness-based Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS) are responsible for investigating whale strandings around the UK’s coastline.
This band of government funding will enable scientists to continue their research for the next three years looking into stranded whales, dolphins, porpoises, basking sharks and marine turtles.
UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP) will now also expand to encompass research into strandings of other large-bodied shark species, such as the porbeagle (Lamna nasus).
Dr Andrew Brownlow, who leads SMASS, said: “This is excellent news, as we are now able to expand our monitoring to cover most apex marine animal species in Scottish waters. These are species which feed high up in the oceans’ food webs – important in their own right and also because they serve as very good indicators of the health of the marine environment. This funding will allow us continue monitoring the effects of both natural and human-induced mortality, such as pollution, marine debris and infectious disease.”
