ANIMAL rights activists from the Ban Animal Trading (BAT) organisation held an Empty the Tanks protest on Saturday outside uShaka Marine World.

The protest in Durban mimicked similar protests in cities around the world calling for an end to cetacean captivity which includes whales, dolphins and porpoises.

According to Prathna Singh-Kramm, one of the organisers of the event, the protest was also a way to promote ocean conservation while also calling out sea animals being kept in captivity for profit.

“The vision behind the Empty the Tanks protest is a world without cetacean captivity. This is now our tenth year protesting in Durban, and we wanted to take a stand against dolphin and whale captivity. It is undeniable that dolphins are extremely intelligent, social animals who suffer immensely when confined to tanks and exploited for profit. More and more countries around the world are realising that dolphins do not belong in captivity, and we hope uShaka is soon to follow.”

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According to Singh-Kramm, uShaka Marine World is the only aquarium on the African continent that still imprisons dolphins for human entertainment.

“In the past, we’ve had fruitful engagements with other aquariums, such as the Bayworld Oceanarium in Gqeberha which chose to stop dolphin shows. We would like uShaka to follow suit. I feel it is also important to say we aren’t calling for the closure of uShaka at all. If it was just the water park, it would be fine, but we feel no animal should be kept in captivity, and that includes the aquarium,” she said.

The local resident was also at pains to point out that the Empty the Tanks protest was not calling for the release of captive mammals into the wild.

“This is not a radical movement demanding the release of all captive marine mammals into the wild. Some of the dolphins at uShaka might be great candidates for release, but those who are not should be retired into sea pens, where they can enjoy the rest of their days in natural seawater. I have researched sea pens as an alternative solution, and they mimic the natural conditions of the oceans. In this way, the dolphins feel the currents, interact with other sea life and they aren’t forced to perform for food,” she said.

She added that the movement also planned to protest the Durban July later this year.

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