About us

ABOUT US

«Ocean Friends» is marine animals rescue team created by “Boomerang” club in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk city, Sakhalin Island, Russia. At present moment initiative group has matured enough for independent work: it continues working with “Boomerang” Club within joint projects but it also carries out its own projects and events. The team plans to register as non-profit organization.

One of the examples of individual projects is an expedition for public monitoring of killer whales capture in August 2018 and participation in upcoming conference “Marine mammals of the Holarctic” in Arkhangelsk.

 

OUR HISTORY

For many years “Boomerang” club witnessed cases when marine mammals were in danger and needed help - littered rookeries, animal entangled in plastic waste, oil spills etc. But 2016 orca case became a turning point and the beginning of “Ocean Friends” foundation.

In April 2016 four orcas got trapped in ice in coastal zone of Starodubsk town in Sakhalin island. They were exhausted and injured against sharp edges of the ice. Three Orcas found their way to open water more or less by themselves. But the fourth whale, an adult male, could not manage to follow them. EMERCOM staff, “Boomerang” club members and volunteers were working all night spending many hours in the cold water trying to pull the ice floes away, protecting the animal from cuts and slowly guiding the whale to the open water. Finally in the morning the last orca was free.

In autumn 2016 the first volunteer group for marine mammals rescue was formed by “Boomerang” club. Later this group was named “Ocean Friends”.

WHAT WE DO

Our mission: conserving marine mammals of Sakhalin region and their environment.

Main focuses of activity:

1. Marine animals rescue.

We are ready to help a marine animal in danger: stranding response in shallow waters or onshore and disentanglement out of marine debris or fishing gears.

Upon receiving a call on our hot line our trained volunteer team can respond to the site with all necessary equipment and tools in order to perform rescue operation.

2. Awareness raising and educational campaigns for Sakhalin region people.

We believe that the most effective way to fulfill our mission is to develop environmental awareness and behavior of people living in Sakhalin Island.

We conduct outreach and educational campaigns for adults and children in order to cultivate love and respect to nature and to make people see interconnection between human and marine environment. We believe that the more knowledge people gain about marine mammals living side by side to them more careful they would treat the environment and cleaner would be the shores and the sea.

3. Assisting marine mammals science researches.

We collect data about cases of encountering marine mammals dead or alive in order to pass it over to scientific community. This is the contribution to the researches which can lead to better understanding of effective ways of helping the marine mammals.

4. Assisting the development of regulatory system for marine mammals conservation.

Our team in cooperation with Sakhalin region government is developing official procedures for different rescue operations for marine animals.

TRAININGS AND LECTURES

• Stranding Response and Disentanglement Training fromBrian Sharp (IFAW) and IWC (David Matilla) https://iwc.int/iwc-entanglement-and-stranding-response-sakhalin

• Pinnipeds rescue and rehabilitation workshop from Lora Beloivan (Marine mammals rehabilitation center, Vladivostok, Russia)

• Grey Whales Lecture from Dzhikiya Ekaterina (Russian Council for Marine Mammals) and Yakovlev Y.M. (National Research Center of Marine Biology Far-Eastern Division of the Russian Academy of Science, Russia)

• Marine Mammal Lecture by Boris Soloviev (A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution (IPEE RAS)

MILESTONES

• May 2017 Cleaning Tyuleniy island from the garbage

• Jun 2017 Cleaning Kuznetsov Bay coastline from the garbage

• Sep 2017 Cleaning works at Piltun Bay – removing fishing nets and ropes abandoned at the water at grey whales feeding grounds and cleaning the garbage left after fishing site

• Outreach and educational campaigns in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Russia during different open-air city celebrations 

OUR PARTNERS AND SPONSORS

• Regional NGO“MarineMammalsCouncil“, Moscow

• Polyakov Search and Rescue Team of EMERCOM of Russia

• Ministry of Natural Resources ad Environmental Protection of Sakhalin region

• “Ecodelo” alliance

• «Sakhalin Energy» Company

• President Grants Fund

• RN-Sakhalinmorneftegas, LLC

• International Pinnipeds Entanglement Group (PEG)

CONTACT US

Office phone: +7 (4242) 300506

To report a marine animal in danger call: +7 (914) 7695969

E-mail: sakh.m.m.rescue@mail.ru

Address: 693021, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, 2-d Pionerskaya St. 35-4

Social networks:

http://www.instagram.com/oceanfriendsteam/

https://www.facebook.com/oceanfriendsteam

https://vk.com/oceanfriendsteam

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWJgN_1ueKrM2z96aGn9w3w/videos

MARINE MAMMALS IN OUR REGION

The Sakhalin Island has extraordinary abundant marine life. It is a home for different rear and unique species of fish and marine animals, such as:

• Cetaceans
  

Grey Whales. Piltun Bay in the North of Sakhalin is hosting a  Sea of Okhotsk (or Western) gray whale populationthat migrates here every spring for several months to feed on nutritious plankton and raise their calves.

Killer whale, Pacific White-sided dolphin, Dall’s Porpoise, Curvier’s Beaked whale, Harbour Porpoise, Beluga, Common dolphin, Baird’s Beaked whale, Sperm whale, Humpback whale, Bowhead whale, Fin whale, Minke whale, North Pacific Right whale.

• Seals
  

Numerous different species inhabits the region among which are: Steller sea lion, Northern fur seal,  Harbour seal, Ringed seal, Bearded seal, Ribbon seal, Spotted seal, .City of Nevelsk breakwater becomes a Steller sea line rookery from February to July and is one of a few places on earth where these animals settle within a city coastal line. Tyleniy Island is another place that hosts sea lines every spring and the biggest in Russian Far east - several thousands of animal share this island during breeding season. 

• Sea otter

These rear animal found on the islands of the Kurile Ridge. It is famous for its remarkable fur and was nearly exterminated by the beginning of the 20th century. Nowadays it is enlisted in Red Book.

Фотографии: Д.Дёмкин, Р.Гришанов, Клуб "Бумеранг", П.Ван Дер Вольф.