Transforming the Way We See and Treat Aquatic Life

Celebrate World Aquatic Animal Day with us! PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS EVENT IS HYBRID. Please register for the ticket that indicates whether you will join us IN-PERSON or ONLINE. The event will take place IN-PERSON at the George Washington University Law School. The theme for this year’s World Aquatic Animal Day is The Human Gaze: Impacts on Aquatic Animals. Our second panel - From Objects to Subjects: Transforming the Way We See and Treat Aquatic Life will feature our amazing Keynote speaker, Jo-Anne McArthur along with four other fabulous advocates, Amy P. Wilson, Lori Marino, Randall Abate, and Kathy Hessler. The panel will consider how the fields of law, science, and photojournalism “see” aquatic animals and what it means for them. Speakers: Amy P. Wilson Jo-Anne McArthur Randall Abate Aashritha Kumar Lori Marino About World Aquatic Animal Day (WAAD) World Aquatic Animal Day is an annual day dedicated to aquatic animals, launched for the first time on April 3, 2020. It was the idea of Amy P. Wilson and is co-founded by Amy P. Wilson and Kathy Hessler. Each year, we work to raise global awareness about these often-forgotten and mistreated nonhuman animals. Aquatic animals play a critical role in our societies and ecosystems. They are important as species, but they also have value and intrinsic worth as individuals. By “aquatic animals” we mean not only fishes or whales, but also the many other animals who inhabit aquatic habitats such as: amphibians, marine mammals, crustaceans, reptiles, mollusks, aquatic birds, aquatic insects, starfish, and corals. Aquatic animals urgently need to be considered in policy initiatives, education, advocacy, legal decision-making, and stewardship choices. 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. Join us on April 3 each year as we celebrate these creatures and call for action to protect them through education, law, policy, outreach, and other avenues. With a different focus each year, we will highlight and work to address the issues aquatic animals face.