World Aquatic Animal Day edit
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| World Aquatic Animal Day | |
|---|---|
| Official name | World Aquatic Animal Day |
| Also called | World Aquatic Animal Day / WAAD |
| Celebrations | To celebrate and raise awareness of the world's aquatic animals |
| Date | 3 April |
| Next time | 3 April 2025 |
| Frequency | annual |
World Aquatic Animal Day[1] is an annual day dedicated to aquatic animals. The day is being launched for the first time on April 3, 2020, and is a project of the Aquatic Animal Law Initiative and the Animal Law Clinic at Lewis & Clark Law School, as part of the Center for Animal Law Studies. Each year, the day intends to raise global awareness about the Aquatic animal on April 3rd.
On April 3rd each year, please celebrate these creatures and calling for action to protect aquatic animals through education, law, policy, outreach and other avenues. With a different focus each year, the World Aquatic Animal Day[2] will highlight these issues and elevate their status.
Background edit
Aquatic animals play a critical role in our societies and ecosystems. They are important not only as a group, but also have value and intrinsic value as individuals. By “aquatic animals” we mean not only fish, but also a myriad of other animals that require aquatic habitats, such as: amphibians, marine mammals, crustaceans, reptiles, mollusks, water birds, aquatic insects, starfish, and corals. Aquatic animals are widely used, and abused, around the world and they, and their habitats, face a multitude of significant threats[3].
There is urgent need to give aquatic animals proper consideration. Through law, policy, education, advocacy, and good stewardship of the earth, efforts to raise awareness of the plight of aquatic animals must rise to meet the immense challenges they face. We must consider our interactions with aquatic animals, our treatment of them, and the often-devastating impacts we are having on them and on their habitats.
Themes edit
2020: The 2020 theme is “Aquaculture"[1]