May 28, 2013 — The Ocean Explorium needs our help. UMass Dartmouth has been forced to redefine its financial relationship to the community. We have to make up the difference. And so we are asking you and all of our community members to help out in any way that you can to make sure that this important educational and tourist attraction remains an important part of our future development. Now that Route 18 has made downtown New Bedford a real tourist destination, we need excellent venues for our visitors.
We, the people of SouthCoast, are all connected to the sea. We fish for a living and for fun. We sail, swim, travel and gaze upon its waters. The health of our local economy has always been tied to the health of the fishing industry and the sea. While other legs of the stool of our economic health have come and gone, most notably textiles, we have been the most productive fishing port in the country for many years.
The Ocean Explorium serves many important functions. It instantly engages us, young and old. The living exhibits draw us in with their beauty, vitality, diversity and fragility. The scale of the exhibits is perfect. They are "one to one" and allow us to connect to the animals. Where can you be inches away from an octopus playing with toys? Or be eye to eye with small rays and sharks? Or gaze at eye level into a magnificent coral reef? Or travel in a Shuttle to the moon, sun, all the planets and gaze upon the Earth itself. Whether you are a small child or a grandparent, the Ocean Explorium will reach you, move you and even possibly transform you.
In so doing, it stimulates learning, prompting tons of questions. The answers from a team of professionals and volunteers prompt lasting impressions and more questions. The kind you take home and think about.
These same exhibits dramatically underscore the fragility of the ocean and its creatures and how much our behavior can impact and help them. A seahorse, so beautiful and timid, is so dependent on the ebb and flow and quality of the water that determines its life. So, too, the jellies and scallops. They are not just beautiful. They are fragile and totally dependent on the health of their environment. So if we need to fish for scallops and cod, we need the sea they live in to be healthy so they will prosper. If the sea gets too warm or dirty in ways that threaten them, we need to do something about it, or else our livelihood and food are threatened. The Explorium teaches the lesson that we need to protect the seas to protect ourselves.
Read the full opinion piece at the New Bedford Standard-Times