International holidays - World Marine Mammal Protection Day

On February 19, the international community celebrates World Marine Mammal Day or Whale and Dolphin Day A document signed in 1986 banned whaling For ecologists, this date is considered Whale Day and Marine Mammal Protection Day From this day on, there is a ban on both whale hunting and meat trading Whale fishing is permitted only for scientific purposes in Japan, but since whale meat can often be found in Japanese restaurants and butcher shops, environmentalists question the appropriateness of the permit issued to this country Public and environmental organizations annually hold events dedicated to the protection of marine life Ecologists raise pressing issues in scientific circles about the conservation of whales and dolphins, and hold demonstrations that attract the attention of government officials and other interested people to the environmental problem The problem of protecting other aquatic mammals, of which there are currently only 119 species left on the planet, is often brought up for discussion The extermination of marine animals, which has continued for centuries, has led to the fact that many of them are on the verge of extinction and are now listed in the Red Book The decrease in the number of whales and other mammals poses a threat to the biological balance of the ecosystem of the World Ocean, since they are one of the links in the food chain participating in the cycle of substances Some countries violate the ban and continue to kill animals In addition, human activity also makes a negative contribution to the decline in whale numbers Marine oil production and, as a consequence, water pollution entails large losses of mammals In the Russian Federation, the Day for the Protection of Whale and Dolphins began to be celebrated in 2002 This is of great importance for the country, since the seas are home to dozens of endangered species of whales, dolphins, seals and fur seals