The collaborative UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP) has been running since 1990 and is funded by Defra and the Devolved Administrations. It coordinates the investigation of all cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises), marine turtles and basking sharks that strand around the UK coastline. Information is recorded on each individual stranding, with a proportion retrieved for systematic investigation at post-mortem to establish a cause of death, to gain a better understanding of the threats that these animals face in UK waters.