We've all seen photos of the Earth taken from space. Looking at the blue sphere, it seems almost as if the word "earth," which can be defined as a land surface or a handful of soil, isn’t the appropriate word to describe our planet.
Oceans are diverse ecosystems, ranging from barren, desert-like underwater plains where very little can survive, to colorful kaleidoscopic ecosystems where a variety of fish and plants thrive against a backdrop of living rock and carpets of anemone tentacles. The ocean is home to millions of species of animals; so many we may never know them all. Beneath ocean waters, the largest animals to ever inhabit the Earth—blue whales—once swam.
As the top of the food chain, we humans have a responsibility to the rest of the creatures who share our home planet, even if we live on land, and they live in water. Everything we do on the surface can eventually affect even the smallest creatures in the deepest seas.
All of the water on Earth is connected. Even the water in your neighborhood is, ultimately, connected to the ocean. A watershed is a network of rivers and streams that connect to an estuary or bay, which then leads to the ocean. Your own backyard is part of a watershed. What you do at home affects the larger watershed and, eventually, the dolphin’s home: the ocean.
The National Aquarium’s Marine Animal Rescue Program (MARP) sees firsthand the effects of ocean health on the local populations of dolphins along the East Coast. In recent years, MARP staff and volunteers have encountered Atlantic bottlenose dolphins and other marine animals with some of the same problems mentioned here: entanglement, boat strikes, and ingested plastics. We can all do something to help.
Watershed health, ocean health, and dolphin health: they’re all connected, and you can make a difference.
