Over the weekend, IDA, along with other activists, joined forces at Pier 39 in San Francisco—home to Aquarium of the Bay—to galvanize public support in urging the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to create and enforce stricter regulations to protect marine mammals held in aquaria for public display.

NMFS is accepting public comments through June 10 regarding the Marine Mammal Protection Act, including the section that permits its public display.  It is critical we continue to attract greater support in driving the NMFS to stop allowing ‘abusement’ parks like SeaWorld, the Miami Seaquarium, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, and other commercial aquaria from exploiting marine mammals under the guise of “education.”  The United Kingdom boasts a progressive marine conservation ethic and there are no marine parks left—a perfect illustration that you don’t need to confine marine mammals in tiny, chlorinated swimming pools, forcing them to perform ridiculous tricks for food amid the din of a crowd and ear-piercing music to provide the public with a quality marine education.

As a first step, Congress must mandate that marine parks stop coercing animals to perform tricks for food, stop captive breeding programs, and ban the live captures of marine mammals for public display.

Please submit your comments to NMFS and share this alert with your family and friends on your social networking sites. The deadline is June 10.

Marine mammals are suffering in captivity and thank you for your help!