Agreed. Keeping animals in captivity is a relic of the past when that was the only way to view animals. Now we have high-resolution cinematography and underwater photography...why not educate children using NatGeo, and inspire those that find it exciting to go further?
If you ever ride the ferry from Wellington to Picton, most of the time you'll see Bottlenose Dolphins chasing after the boat. It's a pretty cheap ride and is less than an hour. I've heard similar stories about ferries in Seattle.
You don't need to pay for expensive tourist rides to see some of these creatures. If you live in the right areas, and if we take care of our waterways, you can see all kinds of amazing creatures just by riding a ferry.
So you're saying that to have a "special connection" to ocean wildlife we need to keep animals captive in a small pool?
Obviously we can't all go on excursions into the sea, but aquariums don't seem like the best model for understanding and appreciating wildlife.