<p>The French stranding network is co-ordinated by the Joint Service Unit PELAGIS, UAR 3462, University of La Rochelle-CNRS, dedicated to monitoring marine mammal and seabird populations, as a continuous monitoring programme. The network is constituted of around 300 trained volunteers distributed along the whole French coast who collect data according to a standardized observation and dissection protocol. The network was established in the early 1970’s and its organisation and procedures are considered unchanged since the mid 1980’s. Data are centralized into a single database held in La Rochelle.</p>