British Divers Marine Life Rescue

British Divers Marine Life Rescue is an organisation dedicated to the rescue and well being of all marine animals in distress around the UK.

We are a network of trained and professional marine mammal medics who respond to call outs from the general public, HM Coastguard, Police and RSPCA. In fact, we are the primary marine animal rescue organisation in the country and are not only called upon by the other emergency services, but also train their staff.

BDMLR is a registered charity and is operated entirely by volunteers. Our rescue teams are on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

We have a wide range of equipment strategically placed throughout the country to deal with strandings of marine animals, oil spills, fishing gear entanglement and in fact any type of marine animal in trouble. This includes rescue boats, equipment trailers, whale and dolphin pontoon sets, a whale disentanglement kit and each area has a medic kit with essential supplies.

In 2008 BDMLR moved from being a purely rescue organisation and opened a specialist seal hospital in the remote Scottish highlands which wasn't being covered before. You can read all about the seal hospital on their blog and see how the latest patients are doing.

Although our name mentions divers, you don't have to be a diver to be a supporter or medic. Our medic base covers all walks of life and includes: teachers, plumbers, executives, managers, retail staff, secretaries, builders, photographers... the list goes on and on. All you need is a positive attitude, don't mind being wet and cold, and are able-bodied. The rest we teach you on our Marine Mammal Medic Course.

We are entirely funded by donations and can only run our emergency service for marine animals with your support.

Interested in becoming a Marine Mammal Medic?

We need more Marine Mammal Medics to join our rescue teams throughout the UK to enable us to continue our vital first response. Please note that you do not need to be a diver. More about our training courses »