If you think the ocean isn't important, imagine Earth without it. Mars comes to mind. No ocean, no life support system.
Sylvia EarleWe are all together in this, we are all together in this single living ecosystem called planet earth.
Sylvia EarleNearly all of the major kinds of life, divisions of life, phyla of animals, occur in the sea. Only about half of them can make it to land or freshwater.
Sylvia Earle