dolphins are more important than sea lions?

So I gathered this tidbit from the news and it made me wonder: the dolphins were the only ones worth saving? (ie. transferring to a motel pool) Its not like people are going to freak out if a dolphins swims past their window. Alligator, maybe. Dolphin? C'mon it would make people happy. (Suddenly I have an image of the "Simpsons" when the lion jumps out of the water to grab Lance Murdoch (Bart's daredevil icon of the day) to pull him back in ...)

Marine life facility gone
Six bottlenose dolphins from Marine Life
Oceanarium that rode out the storm in two motel pools will leave town soon,
too.
"We were totally destroyed," said Moby Solangi, the aquarium's
president. "We're planning to put them in another facility until we can
rebuild."
Three of Solangi's sea lions that ended up in neighborhoods were
recovered alive, he said.
"The birds and fish, they're free now," Solangi
said, describing how the storm crushed several 30-foot-tall tanks.