MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands Conservation outlines significance of World Whale Day 2024

World Whale Day, WWD was created in 1980 by Greg Kaufman founder of the nonprofit organization, Pacific Whale Foundation, and is celebrated the third Sunday of February.

The day was founded to honor humpback whale in Maui, Hawaii while seeking to raise awareness about the human threats posed to them.

Today, the event has gained international attention and is targeted at promoting the welfare of all whales Across the world there are still many human impacts that threaten the animals.

Why does it matter?

Globally, whales still face many human threats to their existence including marine plastic pollution, vessel collisions, fishing by-catches and oil spills

Whales are key nutrient recyclers that are important for the long term health of our oceans, of which we are also dependent on for food resources,

Currently there are six whales species that are either endangered or critically endangered, and so marine protections are vital to ensure that their numbers don't decline further.

The Work we do

At Falklands Conservation, we run whale projects that seek to better understand the species in the Falklands, their distributions, population size, ecology and interactions with human activities.

To carry out this research, we've undertaken a variety of activities including photo identification, visual surveys, acoustic monitoring and satellite tracking

How you can support our work

* Become a member of Falklands Conservation

* Donate

* Share this post with friends and family

* Ask legislators to support stronger whales protections

* Support fishing that uses whale-safe methods

For more information, visit falklandsconservation.com. The data gathered from these activities is critical to the development of effective conservation and management of whale populations.