Marine mammals in United States jurisdictional waters are protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 and, for endangered species, by the Endangered Species Act of 1973 as well. Beginning late in 1972, permits were required to conduct stranding activities for dead or live stranded marine mammals. Stranding operations tended to be localized where resources (e.g. ocean-aria) and interested individuals were located. Stranding operations were not necessarily done in a coordinated or systematic manner over large areas. The Marine Mammal Commission, an independent commission created by the Marine Mammal Protection Act, recognized the value of data that could be collected from stranded marine mammals and held a workshop in 1977 to assess marine mammal stranding operations in the United States. The workshop resulted in the establishment of regional stranding networks, uniform data reporting and increased communication. Stranding data were regularly sent to the Smithsonian Institution for inclusion in the national stranding database. Most of the stranding network operations are conducted by volunteers (individuals and organizations). A second workshop was held in 1987 to review the first ten years of network operations. The bottlenose dolphin die off on the east coast of the United States (June 1987 - March 1988) clearly pointed out the limits of a volunteer system to respond to catastrophic events. Rapid response and the collection of high quality data and samples require planning, training and adequate funding. The events of 1987-1988 resulted in a complete review of network operations in the U.S. The National Marine Mammal Tissue Bank was established and plans laid and implemented (to some extent) to provide increased communication among network personnel, increased training, increased standardization of specimen collection and increased funding. However, the networks still depend extensively on volunteers.

General interest in stranded marine mammals is typified by experiences in the southeastern United States. In the first full year of operation (1978) 97 stranded cetaceans were reported. By 1990, 743 strandings of 26 species, including the first North American records of Epencephala, were reported. Increased stranding reports reflected the increased interest, increased geographic coverage and increased number of people participating in the network. Despite the success of the network, geographic coverage remains incomplete and even minimal data (photos, teeth, skulls) are not collected from many of the stranded cetaceans reported.