Worldwide February 19 is World Whale and Dolphin Day.. Moreover, this environmental date is considered a day of protection not only for whales, but also for all marine mammals and other living creatures living in the seas and oceans of our planet. This Day was established in 1986, when the moratorium on whaling introduced by the International Whale Commission (IWC) came into force.

First of all, Whale Day is about attracting the attention of the public, government officials and all humanity to the protection of this unique species of animals and, in general, all marine mammals; to date, only 119 species have survived on our planet. The intensive and merciless extermination of marine mammals and, in particular, whales, which has been going on for more than 200 years, has a detrimental effect on their numbers - many representatives of this order are on the verge of extinction.

But they are the most sensitive indicators of the state of the planet’s marine systems and an important link in the food chains of the World Ocean; they create the stability of the biological cycle of substances in the ecological system. Therefore, the reduction in the number of whales and other marine animals leads to a disruption of the biological balance in marine ecosystems. After all, every extinct species is an irreparable loss - everything that disappears in the animal world disappears forever.

Despite the fact that the moratorium on whaling is still in effect and whale hunting is prohibited by the laws of most countries, the destruction of these animals does not stop. In addition, man, through his activities, which, unfortunately, are not always reasonable, has long been negatively influencing nature, changing it. For example, great losses to marine mammals are caused by fishing gear, as well as pollution of the oceans by oil products due to the expansion of the geography of oil production on the sea shelf.

This state of affairs does not suit defenders of marine mammals and all people who care about the future of our planet. To preserve marine life, public attention is drawn to this problem. In many countries there are clubs and societies for lovers of these animals, and marine reserves are being created where their lives are not in danger. And on this day itself, every year, various environmental groups, environmental organizations and the public hold all kinds of actions to protect whales and other marine mammals, various information events, or devote this day to the protection of one unique species that is in mortal danger.

In Russia, Marine Mammal Protection Day has been celebrated since 2002. and is of particular importance, since the seas of our country are home to several dozen species of whales, dolphins, fur seals and seals, many of which are endangered and listed in the Red Book Russian Federation and the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

For information

The seas and oceans of the Earth were developed by marine mammals long before the appearance of humans. Findings by paleontologists confirm the existence of whales and seals 26 million years ago. Cetaceans (Cetacea) are an order of aquatic mammals that include whales, dolphins and porpoises. Whales breathe air using their lungs, are warm-blooded, and feed their young with milk. The blue whale is the largest creature on Earth, sometimes weighing up to 200 tons. Whales gave a lot to people: whalebone and spermaceti, whale oil and bone meal. And recently, doctors have become seriously interested in studying whales. The whale is a wonderful symbol of life at sea, large and powerful, but at the same time very defenseless. And it’s important to remember this...

February 19 is World Whale Day, which is also considered a day to protect all other marine mammals. World Whale Day has been celebrated since 1986, when the International Whaling Commission (IWC) introduced a ban on whaling. Currently, only whaling is permitted solely to meet the needs of the indigenous population, as well as the removal of whales for scientific purposes with special permits from governments that are members of the IWC.

“WE SHOULD TREAT ANIMALS DIFFERENTLY - WITH GREATER UNDERSTANDING, AND MAYBE WITH REVERENCE. MAN HAS LOST CONTACT WITH NATURE AND BUILT HIS LIFE ON CLIMBING AND INVENTION. WE TREAT ANIMALS HIGHLY, BELIEVING THAT THEIR FATE IS WORTHY TO REGRET: COMPARED TO US, THEY ARE VERY IMPERFECT. BUT WE ARE MISTAKED!” “Animals are not our smaller brothers and not poor relatives, they are other peoples who, together with us, have fallen into the network of life, into the network of time; just like us, prisoners of earthly splendor and earthly suffering.” Henry Beston

The most, the most... the heaviest; make the loudest sound; whales have the largest brain (up to 8 kg); they can go without food for 2/3 of the year; they can stay awake for up to 3 months; whales can stay underwater for up to 40 minutes; whales are herd animals; it is the only mammal that sings;

Whales have the largest brains. Whales can go without sleeping for three months, without eating for eight months, without breathing for up to two hours, and at the same time overcome gigantic distances of up to several thousand kilometers. Whales constantly listen because they have no sense of smell and poor vision.

Humpback whale Humpback whales sometimes swim up to ships and play around them. Therefore, in most photographs these whales appear very playful. The humpback whale is a slow-moving whale, its speed does not exceed km/h. Therefore, the natural enemies of humpback whales are killer whales and great white sharks. They are especially dangerous for cubs, since they are still completely defenseless, as well as for weak and sick individuals.

Blue whale This is the largest creature that has ever lived on earth! Its weight sometimes reaches 200 tons, and its length is 33 meters. This is truly a huge animal, just a giant. The speed of the blue whale is 9-13 km/h. If the whale is frightened or runs away, it develops a speed of 25 km/h and releases small fountains every 30 seconds.

During the day, the blue whale eats about 1 ton of krill - small crustaceans. This is approximately 1 million calories, which means that one whale needs as much food per day as 830 schoolchildren! Swimming through a krill colony, whales swallow colossal masses of these crustaceans along with hundreds of tons of water. The krill are then filtered using their tongue, which acts as a piston to force water through huge sieve-like structures (baleen) hanging from the sky. The thickness of the blue whale's tongue exceeds 3 m, and the weight of the tongue is more than the weight of an elephant!

Prefers open seas, lives alone or in pairs. Gives up to 5 fountains at a time. Dives for periods ranging from half a minute to 12 minutes. Grazing sei whales move slowly, about 5 km/h, but frightened whales reach speeds of up to 50 km/h. The food of sei whales is varied: crustaceans, fish (saury, sardine, smelt, gerbil), squid, octopus, cuttlefish. The high speed of movement allows sei whales to avoid attacks by killer whales.

Gray whale habitats are located along the coast in shallow water areas. They feed at depths of 5-50 m on organisms living on the ground and in the ground. The gray whale scoops them up along with the muddy masses and filters them through a very rough and hard straining apparatus. After gray whales feed, numerous feeding holes remain on the bottom, 2.5 m long, 1.5 m wide and 10 cm deep. One gray whale leaves up to 6 holes on the bottom during one dive.

The narwhal is called a unicorn for one unique feature. The fact is that male narwhals have a very long, up to three meters in length, straight, thin “horn” sticking out of their heads. In fact, this is not a horn, but a tooth, just greatly enlarged. It grows on the left side of the jaw and, surprisingly, is twisted, and always counterclockwise. Narwhals with two “horns” are very rare.

Cetacean Human Use The waxy substance in whale heads has been used to make cosmetics, candles, perfumes, and ointments; margarine, lubricants, glycerin, soap, and washing powder were made from subcutaneous lard; springs for sofas, brushes, and fans were made from whalebone; manufactured medications (for example, insulin); as well as printing ink, gelatin, glue and much more; meat as a food product;

Whales do not cry when they die, but die in silence, silently dispersing the waves, and going to the depths. They are as powerful as icebergs. They are as big as mountains. More menacing than any gray cloud, But it’s like children and old people They are helpless and pitiful. Having blocked the children with their backs, They will take a harpoon and sticks, They will destroy the ancient reef. Protecting their babies, Whales replace fear with anger... Whales do not cry when dying, Whales are submissive to silence. Nadezhda Pinchuk

Materials used: 1. Victor Sheffer. "Year of the Whale". 2. Christopher Ash. "Eye of the Whale". 3.D.G. Lilly. "Cetaceans." 4.N.A.Mackintosh. "Whale Stocks". 5.F.S.Fraser. "Whales and whaling." 6.D.Sliyper. "Whales". 7. _kita 8. zashhity-kitov.htmlhttp://zashhity-kitov.html

Whale Day - this is the second name of the holiday World Day protection of mammals- the planet has been celebrating every year on February 19 since 1986.

Forget earthly grief, selfish dreams.

Cheerful whales are walking in the blue sea.

They dance a dance, visible from afar,

Green fountains storm the clouds...

Alexander Gorodnitsky

What a kind, positive, optimistic piece of poetry, isn’t it? Meanwhile, the call running through him and addressed to all humanity has not been heard to this day. For some reason, people don’t want to admire noble animals - they want to kill.

In order to combat this problem, a holiday was established:

World Marine Mammal Day

history of the holiday

The reason for establishing the environmental date was a fairly significant event for marine mammals: the official entry into force of a moratorium (ban) on whaling, documented back in 1982. The idea belonged to the International Whaling Commission.

Purpose of the law was to stop the destruction of whales and other sea mammals, because the uncontrolled killing of innocent animals:

represents a destructive force that interferes with natural ecosystems;

leads to the complete destruction of some species and assignment of rare status to others.

By their actions, the leadership of the ICC believed, in all likelihood, to solve long-standing problems once and for all. In English, the name of the environmental date sounds like World Whale and Dolphin Day. Some may find the obvious presence of the word "dolphin".

However, the explanation for this fact is simple: cute creatures, along with porpoises and whales, belong to order of aquatic mammals Cetaceans.

The distinctive features of this category of animals are breathing through the lungs, warm-bloodedness and, of course, the ability to milk-feed their offspring.

In our country, World Marine Mammal Day began to be celebrated quite recently - only in 2002.

Russia needs this kind of environmental dates no less than other world states with access to the sea, because it has a sufficient number of warm-blooded aquatic inhabitants. This is not one dozen seals, dolphins, fur seals.

The main “heroes of the occasion” also live in the domestic seas - whales.

The holiday is important, because many marine animals of Russia are listed in the Red Book due to the constant danger of complete extinction. And the reason for this situation is not so much in the pollution of the environment and natural processes, but in the cruel, unreasonable activity of man in relation to the defenseless “our smaller brothers.”

Who kills whales and why?

People know a whole galaxy of species of noble animals, proudly called whales. Humpback whales, blue whales, beluga whales, sperm whales, minke whales– you can’t list them all. Each of the currently existing species is of great value, since it is, first of all, integral part nature. Unfortunately, humanity in any, even the most beautiful phenomenon, often sees only a way to make money...

We have already talked about what the International Whaling Commission (IWC) introduced in the 80s. last century moratorium on whaling.

This ban did not apply only to killing in order to satisfy the food needs of the aborigines, or catching whales for conducting scientific experiments on animals with the permission of the IWC.

It must be said that all these measures had a beneficial effect on the size of whale populations: many of them began to recover. However, there were those dissatisfied with the actions of the MCC employees - Japanese.

Whaling in the Country rising sun arose around the 17th century. Of course, local residents did not want to lose a source of income that had existed for centuries. Therefore, since the introduction of the moratorium, Japanese whalers have stood up to defend their interests. They attempted to officially revoke the IWC ban by filing a protest, but the United States intervened, and this dampened the Asians' ardor.

As it turned out, only for a while: having stopped killing whales for commercial purposes, a year later the inhabitants of the “land of cherry blossoms” continued to commit the same blasphemy under the auspices of the so-called “scientific fishery.”

In 18 years, the country has changed two programs, and disputes over the actions of Japanese representatives do not subside even today.

Please tell me, what kind of “scientific trade” is this when whale meat is calmly gobbled up by both cheeks in local restaurants and freely sold in grocery stores?

Moreover, about 10 years ago, according to the ICC, almost a quarter of sales delicacy was the meat of baleen whales, hunting for which is generally strictly prohibited.

To this day, Japan stubbornly ignores the rules prescribed by the moratorium, killing up to 1,000 marine individuals every year.

Russia is not blameless in this regard either. She also made attempts to lift the ban on whale fishing. However, the domestic scale of killing is insignificant compared to the Japanese: only 150 gray whales per year - and the prey area is quite specific ( Chukotka Autonomous Okrug).

By the way, activists continue to fight whalers from the Land of the Rising Sun. Although, if you look at it, there is nothing illegal in their actions. The ICC Charter states that disagreement with a document prohibiting the destruction of whales is the full right of one state or another.

Except for Japan, the moratorium is rejected Iceland and Norway. Another thing is that it is inhumane...

Save the dolphins!

If whaling is still somehow possible to understand and accept reluctantly, then what is happening on The Faroe Islands, which belong to prosperous Denmark, are terrifying. There, in the land of the mighty Vikings, “good-natured” locals organize a bloody massacre every spring, the victims of which are black pilot whales.

They do this for fun, although they explain it by observing an ancient tradition. The barbaric ritual is performed by male Faroese, and representatives of all age categories, of any gender, witness the mass murder of innocent animals - and, mind you, absolutely voluntarily.

They don’t even hide the fact that they enjoy contemplating this nightmare. The worst thing about all this is the absolute approval of the Danish government, as well as the indifference and complete inaction of animal protection and conservation organizations.

WWF Wildlife Fund refused to take part in the fate of the dolphins, citing a lack of competence in this issue. IN "Greenpeace" They said about the same thing: pilot whales are not on the verge of complete destruction.

Currently bloggers collect signatures against the killing of dolphins in the Faroe Islands within a group specially created for this purpose. Anyone can leave their autograph there too.

In addition, anyone who cares about the fate of pilot whales has the opportunity to support the organization Sea Shepherd, dealing with this problem.

This is the most The best way Join the ranks of those celebrating World Marine Mammal Day.

Long live humanity!

World Marine Mammal Day or World Whale Day is celebrated in many countries on February 19th.

This environmental date is considered a day of protection not only for whales, but also for all marine mammals and various other living creatures living in the seas and oceans of our planet. This Day was established in 1986, when the moratorium on whaling introduced by the International Whale Commission (IWC) came into force.

This moratorium is still in effect today and means that whale hunting, as well as the trade in whale meat, is prohibited worldwide. Currently, whaling is permitted exclusively to meet the needs of the indigenous population (the so-called aboriginal) and the removal of whales for scientific purposes is subject to special permits from IWC member governments. First of all, Whale Day is about attracting the attention of the public, government officials and all humanity to the protection of this unique species of animals and, in general, all marine mammals, of which only 119 species have survived to date on our planet. The intensive and merciless extermination of marine mammals and, in particular, whales, which has been going on for more than 200 years, has a detrimental effect on their numbers - many representatives of this order are on the verge of extinction.

In Russia, the Day for the Protection of Marine Mammals has been celebrated since 2002 and is of particular importance, since the seas of our country are home to several dozen species of whales, dolphins, fur seals and seals, many of which are endangered and are listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation and the International Union nature conservation.

It should also be noted that there is another date for holding such events - World Whale and Dolphin Day.

The depths of the World Ocean are the habitat of numerous species of living organisms that are in close communication. Declining populations, particularly of marine mammals, cause irreparable damage to the environment. An international holiday was established to draw public attention to this problem.

When it passes

World Marine Mammal Day (Whale Day) is celebrated annually on February 19th. In 2020, the date is celebrated in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and other countries of the world.

Who celebrates

The international holiday is celebrated by environmental institutions, experts in the field of environmental safety, and scientists. Students, teachers of specialized specialties at universities, government officials, environmentalists, as well as public and charitable organizations will join in the celebrations.

History and traditions of the holiday

World Marine Mammal Day began in 1986. The selected date has symbolic meaning. It is timed to coincide with the entry into force of a moratorium on whale fishing. The ban was introduced at the initiative of the International Whale Commission (IWC). It is valid to this day and does not allow hunting for creatures or trading in their meat.

The purpose of the holiday is to attract the attention of society and national governments to the problems of protecting marine mammals.

Thematic conferences and seminars are held on this day. There are reports of problems environment. Hearings are being held on reducing the catch of marine life. Proposals are being put forward to improve international legislation. Conservationists who have made significant contributions to the field are honored. Classes are held in environmental organizations. Activists inform the public about pressing issues through flash mobs. Documentaries are broadcast in the media. Results are published scientific research.

Whale fishing is allowed only to meet the needs of the indigenous population and scientific research with special permits from IWC member governments.

There is an Indian Ocean Whale Sanctuary to ensure the birth of offspring.

There are 119 species of marine mammals preserved on the planet. Most are on the verge of extinction. Their destruction lasts more than 200 years.

Japan was accused of violating an international convention by using exclusion clauses in the agreement.

I. Dunaevsky’s operetta “White Acacia” tells the story of whalers. Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick is dedicated to them. The work is based on real events.

The length of the sperm whale reaches 20 meters, the weight of the brain is 8 kg. He can dive to great depths and go without air for up to 2 hours.

The Basques (residents of northern Spain and southwestern France) are considered the founders of fishing in the Old World.

Svend Foyn invented the harpoon cannon in 1863. The product pumped air into the affected carcass, allowing it to be transported to processing stations. The mammal died long and painfully.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, 29 thousand whales were killed near the island of South Georgia in 10 years.