World Whale and Dolphin Day
2025-07-23 / Calendar of events
World Whale and Dolphin Day is celebrated annually on July 23.
This holiday was established in 1986, when the ban on whaling, introduced on July 23, 1982 by the International Whaling Commission (IWC), came into effect after 200 years of merciless extermination of whales. The ban is still in effect and means that whale hunting and trade in whale meat are prohibited worldwide.
However, whaling is not the only threat to these animals. Another major factor in the disappearance of whales, dolphins and other marine mammals is their capture for dolphinariums, oceanariums and circuses.