British Divers Marine Life Rescue’s mission is to provide assistance to any aquatic (marine and freshwater) animal in need of help. It does this through the training of specialist marine mammal medics and deploying them around the country.
The Large Whale Disentanglement Team (LWDT), part of the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) are trained to approach and disentangle the great whales while still at sea to prevent strandings, this is the only team of its kind in Europe. Based in Inverness with team members spread around the country the LWDT is intended to be a rapid reaction volunteer group able to respond to incidents wherever on the coastline they may occur. Rescues of this sort are intrinsically risky and resource heavy and so require a large amount of specialist equipment, safety gear and a minimum of 2 boats – one rubber hulled for approaching the animal and another as a stand-off support vessel.
The new command centre vehicle is setup to carry 6 people including driver and the towbar is capable of pulling the support vessel and trailer meaning the vehicle is fully capable of deploying the team for a rescue by itself and supporting them in the field. As a command unit, an awning has been fitted to allow cover over a briefing area and ensure weather protection for the land team. Although designed for the LWDT and primarily expected to be used to support them in operations and in training, the vehicle is also suitable for supporting other major operations including providing the command and control element for mass strandings.
In 2021 SMEEF was able to provide a grant of £33,889 to support this work using resources from the Nature Restoration Fund.