Dozens of protesters lined SeaWorld Drive in Mission Bay on May 7 and held homemade signs as part of the annual Empty the Tanks global campaign. Empty the Tanks is a worldwide protest and public awareness campaign against the cetacean captivity industry. The activists are not demanding the release of all captive marine mammals into the wild, but only the animals that might be great candidates for release. Those animals that are not good candidates for release should be retired into sea pens, according to the Empty the Tank founder Rachel Carbary, where they can enjoy the rest of their days in natural seawater, feeling the waves of the ocean around them. “They should not be worked until their last breath is taken and then thrown out like trash and replaced,” Carbary says. For more information, visit www.emptythetanks.org.