Ken and Marilyn own the Dolphin Gallery in New Quay, and Sea Watch has collaborated with them for many years now. We asked them to tell us more about what people can be found in their shop, about which involvement they have with Sea Watch, and why they think is important to stand for conservation/protection of whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Here is their story!
In the Dolphin Gallery, our main business is exhibiting and selling Artwork, Photographs, cards and prints, both our own work and that of other local artists. We also sell British collectibles, jewelry and gifts, mainly dolphins made of different materials but not plastic!
Dolphin Gallery. Copyright: Ken Pilkinton.
One of our objectives in having the Gallery is to use it as a vehicle to chat with people about taking care of wildlife, the environment and the Planet in a relaxed and informal way. Our involvement with Sea Watch fits in well with this objective and helps keep us informed of what is happening with the marine wildlife locally and internationally. We learn a lot from our interactions with Sea Watch and at the Annual General Meeting, which we then pass on to our customers to encourage them to become more aware. We know that selling Sea Watch promotional material helps to fund their important work.
Cetaceans are important in their own right and would not need protecting if it were not for humans. For too long, humans have set themselves up as the only important species but now that our numbers have reached near critical mass with more than the 7.6 billion people in the world, it is we who are the main danger to ourselves and all other species. We are supposed to be the intelligent ones and ought to know by now how costly upsetting the balance of nature is to our own species and the place we call home.
We need to protect whales, dolphins and porpoises against human activities. If we do not, what chance do all the other less attractive species have? Marine mammals are aware of us and often seem actively to seek to interact with us. Perhaps, they know more than we think, and we could learn a lot from them. Just as the elephants, rhinos and tigers do on land, so whales, dolphins and porpoises are also massive indicators of the health of our oceans and planet. If they do not survive, how can we?
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