Yup, this video confirms it. Ecco The Dolphin may as well been based on actual aquamariner happenings.
Speaking of Ecco The Dolphin. You should check out Player One Podcast's Greg Sewart's Ecco The Dolphin: The Tides of Time. A game that was so difficult I actually threw the game CD away. Yeah, it's hard, but a great game that I wish I kept.
At this moment it appears I am the only one whose commented on his post. Really regretting dry-snitching on my bladder issues as a youth, but f**k it. It's the internet. And I still, to this day, classify Ecco The Dolphin and anything related to it [this includes the sea itself] as a nightmare factory.