🌊📖 Let us tell you a hopeful tail of ocean conservation that did prevail.
✨ Once upon a tide, marine mammals like whales 🐋, otters 🦦, and seals 🦭 grew scarce. For centuries, people lived alongside them, but as demand for fur and oil rose, hunting expanded, and many ocean species declined.
🦸 In 1972, the Marine Mammal Protection Act came to the rescue. It declared: no hunting, harassing, capturing, or selling of marine mammals in U.S. waters (except for carefully permitted scientific research to help protect them). It also made it illegal to import marine mammals and marine mammal products into the U.S. without a permit. In short, it asked humans to be kind to oceankind. 💙
This Act was one of the first to protect all marine mammals, and it’s still protecting them today. Thanks to it, the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary is a safe home for over 36 species of marine mammals, and we have seen populations recover from near-extinction (we’re looking at you, southern sea otters!).
So next time you spot a whale spout or a snoozing sea otter, thank the MMPA, and remember: 🐋 Stay at least 50 yards away (100 yards for whales) 🛥️ Slow down near kelp beds 🚫 Don’t surround or chase wildlife 📞 Report animals in distress
Because a healthy ocean story needs every character to thrive. 💫
Monterey Bay Aquarium
🌊📖 Let us tell you a hopeful tail of ocean conservation that did prevail.
✨ Once upon a tide, marine mammals like whales 🐋, otters 🦦, and seals 🦭 grew scarce. For centuries, people lived alongside them, but as demand for fur and oil rose, hunting expanded, and many ocean species declined.
🦸 In 1972, the Marine Mammal Protection Act came to the rescue.
It declared: no hunting, harassing, capturing, or selling of marine mammals in U.S. waters (except for carefully permitted scientific research to help protect them). It also made it illegal to import marine mammals and marine mammal products into the U.S. without a permit. In short, it asked humans to be kind to oceankind. 💙
This Act was one of the first to protect all marine mammals, and it’s still protecting them today. Thanks to it, the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary is a safe home for over 36 species of marine mammals, and we have seen populations recover from near-extinction (we’re looking at you, southern sea otters!).
So next time you spot a whale spout or a snoozing sea otter, thank the MMPA, and remember:
🐋 Stay at least 50 yards away (100 yards for whales)
🛥️ Slow down near kelp beds
🚫 Don’t surround or chase wildlife
📞 Report animals in distress
Because a healthy ocean story needs every character to thrive. 💫
1 month ago | [YT] | 908