Marineland permanently closed its marine zoo as of January 5, 2025.
While 90% of visitors chose to come to Marineland to admire the orca and dolphin performances, the law of November 30, 2021, prohibiting cetacean shows, requires Marineland to make this closure.
In accordance with the legislation in force, Marineland is in close contact with the competent authorities to identify the best solutions to accommodate cetaceans in equivalent structures in terms of quality of care and educational projects with the sole priority of animal welfare.
After the economic difficulties linked to the COVID crisis, the 2021 law – initiated in 2017 – came to deal a fatal blow and led to the lasting and continuous drop in attendance at the park. In 10 years, Marineland’s attendance has gone from 1.2 million to 425,000 visitors per year.
Although attendance has decreased and the law has banned cetacean shows, Marineland continued to invest in maintaining high standards of care for the animals, as confirmed by numerous legal and administrative expert reports. The conclusions of these expert reports have consistently highlighted the quality of the treatments administered to the animals as well as the care necessary for their good health.
Marineland is therefore forced to consider separating from the animals before the law is implemented.
The neighboring parks, Aquasplash and Adventure Golf, will not be affected by the Marineland closure project.
Marineland therefore has two priority objectives:
- Relocate all of its animals to the best structures available to date;
- Negotiate in the coming weeks with the social partners on the social consequences of this closure project.
Everything will be implemented in this context to find a personalized and individualized solution for each employee concerned.
For more than 50 years, Marineland has been an institution of the Côte d’Azur and was for many years the largest seasonal employer in the region.
