Marine mammals are considered ecosystem sentinels. However, research on marine mammals can be complicated and costly. Stranding records are an invaluable source of information, as they are an indicator of marine ecosystem health and have economic and social relevancy related to interactions with anthropogenic activities and public health problems (e.g., zoonosis). The available literature related to strandings in Mexico was reviewed to identify topics that have been studied, as well as temporal and spatial trends. We searched for keywords in web search engines and specific sources and then constructed a database of 95 documents. Eighty-eight percent of all studies were gray literature, mainly congress abstracts. Only 12% were peer-reviewed papers, of which 55% were reported in English. The studies comprised a period of 24 years (1992–2016), with the highest frequency from 1998 to 2006. Most studies focused on the “record” topic (47%), followed by “network/group” (19%) and “distribution” (8%). The North Pacific, Gulf of California and Gulf of Mexico were the marine regions where most studies were reported. Only 5% of the studies reported the important topic of coordination between response groups and Mexican environmental authorities. Mexico is well positioned in stranding research compared to other countries, but this study shows the need, especially in Mexico, to publish stranding research in peer-reviewed journals to share experiences at the international level and foster cross-border networking. This study also highlights the need to focus stranding research on the other topics proposed in this study, such as human-marine mammal interactions, public health, and environmental education. Finally, we emphasize the importance of a systematic record of stranding data and coordination among stakeholders in order to provide additional sets of data to include in coastal zone natural resource conservation and management strategies in the increasingly vulnerable (Mexican) coastal zone.

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墨西哥海洋哺乳动物搁浅研究的现状和范围

海洋哺乳动物被认为是生态系统的前哨。然而，对海洋哺乳动物的研究可能是复杂且昂贵的。搁浅记录是信息的宝贵来源，因为它们是海洋生态系统健康的指标，并且与人为活动和公共卫生问题（例如人畜共患病）的相互作用有关，具有经济和社会相关性。审查了与墨西哥搁浅有关的现有文献，以确定已研究的主题以及时空趋势。我们在网络搜索引擎和特定来源中搜索了关键字，然后构建了一个包含95个文档的数据库。所有研究中有88％是灰色文献，主要是会议摘要。经同行评审的论文只有12％，其中55％是英文报告。这些研究为期24年（1992年至2016年），从1998年到2006年出现频率最高。大多数研究集中于“记录”主题（47％），其次是“网络/组”（19％）和“分布”（8％）。北太平洋，加利福尼亚湾和墨西哥湾是报告研究最多的海洋区域。只有5％的研究报告了响应小组与墨西哥环境当局之间进行协调的重要话题。与其他国家相比，墨西哥在滞留研究方面处于有利地位，但这项研究表明，尤其是在墨西哥，有必要在同行评审的期刊上发表滞留研究，以在国际层面上分享经验并促进跨境网络建设。这项研究还强调，有必要将搁浅研究的重点放在该研究提出的其他主题上，例如人与海洋哺乳动物的相互作用，公共卫生，和环境教育。最后，我们强调系统记录搁浅数据和在利益相关者之间进行协调的重要性，以便提供更多数据集，以将日益脆弱的（墨西哥）沿海地区的自然资源保护和管理策略包括在内。