BDMLR is 21

The organisation's inception in 1988 by a few like-minded divers was spurred by the mass mortality of harbour seals in East Anglia's Wash area.

Since then, BDMLR has been a constant guardian of marine animal welfare, from one-off rescues to involvement in major calamities such as Shetland's Braer shipwreck, the Sea Empress grounding at Milford Haven, and the Napoli leaks off Devon and Dorset.

BDMLR now trains some 400 rescue volunteers every year and, while some withdraw from service, overall the pool of willing participants, including marine vets, is a steadily growing one. One-day, £90 courses are run all over the country, from Cornwall to Kent to Scotland.

Over the years the organisation has developed effective cetacean assistance techniques, with the ability to tend animals afloat by RIB or tackle strandings with its fleet of inflatable sponsons driven to the coast from strategically placed stores.

Seals, however, remain the largest single group of creatures tended by the organisation and, in 2004, BDMLR set up its own seal rehabilitation unit in Scotland.

Appropriately, the recent 3000th rescue operation involved an underweight grey seal pup at Wick, near Caithness. The creature is now recovering well from infection by lungworm at the BDMLR Highland Seal Hospital.

In terms of recognition by the broad public, the organisation received a major boost in 2006 as a result of its efforts to save a whale trapped in London's River Thames.

Following extensive national publicity for its Thames operation, BDMLR was able to expand its operations with a boost in volunteer numbers and contributions.

Of the 3000 call-outs carried out since 1988, 1200 have occurred in just the past three years, since the Thames affair.

BDMLR - www.bdmlr.org.uk