Gedde
Harmony Gedde
Professor Natalie Dorfeld
HUM3285
4 February 2016
Unusual Mortality Events: The Canary in the Mine of our Oceans
Since 1991 there have been a total of 62 Unusual Mortility Events (UME’s) in the United
states alone. The Marine Mammal Protection Act defines a UME as “a stranding that is
unexpected; involves a significant die-off of any marine mammal population; and demands
immediate response” (Marine Mammal Commision, 97). According to the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, 35% of these UME’s occurred in the Atlantic Ocean, eighteen of
them occurred in Florida, and two of these UME’s occurred in our own Indian River Lagoon
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