Opening Eyes to Ocean

What a delight to read John Balzar’s elegant Column One (Sept. 4). “Shoring Up Little Slices of the Seas” was beautifully and intelligently written and matched perfectly by Rebecca Perry’s graphic.

There is nothing more important on Earth than the well-being of our great ocean. We in California are responsible for our proximate salt waters. Our marine sanctuaries should be the recipients of lavish attention and concern. The abalone and the rockfish are no less magnificent than the great blue whale, which slowly, barely returns and reminds us of the fragility of life and diversity.

As Balzar suggests, the waters from surface to deep bottom are largely beyond our consciousness but nonetheless crucial to the health of our entire world and of ourselves. I hope, through the beauty and clarity of his prose, Balzar will open all our eyes.

NANCY N. SIDHU

San Bernardino

* After being thoroughly enveloped with the refulgent two-part series covering the nation’s marine sanctuaries (Sept. 4-5), I recalled what the ever-venerable Arthur C. Clarke once succinctly wrote concerning our oceans: “How inappropriate to call this planet Earth, when clearly it is Ocean.”

STEVE SAYER

Rolling Hills Estates