Sustainable Seas, Please

What To Do

Introduction

[Show Slides 1-8].

Welcome to today’s session where we will be learning more about our oceans and the ways humans impact and manage these ecosystems. 

In part 1 of the session, we will be learning ocean ecosystems and populations. In part 2, we will be running our MPA debate. 

• Does anyone know how many oceans there are? 
• Why do you think our oceans are important?
• What is climate change?
• What causes global warming?
• What are some different ways that climate change and global warming can affect oceans?
• What do you think a marine biologist does?

For our first activity, we will be going on virtual dives to learn about or review terminology that is important when studying ecosystems.

Gone Diving Preparation

[Show Slides 9-11].

Read over the PowerPoint slides and follow the instructions on the slides. Visit the Google Earth page prior to the session to make sure you are familiar with the virtual software. 

You will have 5 minutes to explore the virtual dives on Google Earth (either individually or as a group) and record the items listed on the corresponding worksheet.

Sustainable Salmon Preparation & Instructions

Introduction

[Show Slide 13-20].

Next, we will talk a little bit about salmon and then play a fun game!

• What are some factors that can influence the size and health of a salmon population?
• How might climate change affect fish populations, like Pacific Salmon?

Today, we will be starting with a healthy population of Pacific salmon. Let’s see what happens to the salmon population when we go fishing! 

Instructions

Preparing:

• Split students into even groups (Approx. 4 students/group).
• Each group will be given 8 “fish” (you can use playing cards as fish if outreach is in-person) to start, that should be placed in a pile in the middle of the students. 

Objective: Be the person with the most fish at the end of the game. 

Rules:

1. You may take as many fish as you want each turn (*Except for the first turn; there must be enough fish for each person to take at least one on their first turn*). You may also choose to not pick up any fish. Take turns going clockwise around the group – select the person with the closest birthday to go first.
2. Once you take a fish out of the ocean, you cannot put it back. 
3. At the end of each round (once each person in the group has had one turn), the number of fish left in the ocean will be doubled. For in person outreach, the coordinator will give groups double the number of fish (cards) as in the middle.
4. At the end of the game, you can trade in your fish for money (1 fish = $20).
5. No discussing how many fish each person will take is allowed between group members.
6. Keep playing until I tell you when to stop or there are no fish left in your ocean.

Notes for facilitator: 

• Keep the groups moving at the same pace. Make sure every group is done the round, before doubling the groups’ fish and instructing them to start the next round. 
• Let the groups play for four or five rounds, but DO NOT tell them how many rounds they will be playing.

After 4-5 rounds:

• Have a class discussion and ask the following questions:

Q: How many fish are left in your ocean? 

Q: Who in your group has the most fish? 

Q: Who has the most fish in the class?

• Have the students multiply the number of fish they have by $20 to calculate how much money each student/group has. 

Debate Preparation & Instructions

Preparation

• Read over the MPA overview, case study, and stakeholder roles worksheets and the attached PowerPoint to become familiar with the topic and workshop.
• Determine how many students will be participating in the event. Based on this, assign or ask the educator to assign stakeholder roles to the students. If there are more students than stakeholder roles then ask the educator to have the students pair up or create small groups for each stakeholder. The debate will be conducted with the whole class.

Facilitating the Debate

• Introduce a summary of the case study and outline the goals of the debate. Introduce the stakeholders.

[Show Slide 24-27].

• Start the debate by giving each student (or group of youth) 1 minute to introduce themselves and present their main argument and stance on whether or not an MPA is created to the class before they will have a debate/discussion about it.

• A series of prompting questions have been created to help facilitate the discussion.
  • Does the MPA need to be a no-take zone in order for it to be effective?
  • Is fishing wild salmon worse for our oceans than salmon farming?
  • Is overfishing a larger problem for our oceans than all types of pollution combined?
  • Do we need to prioritize feeding human populations before worrying about whale lives?
  • What might happen is whales were to go extinct? How would that affect the ecosystem?
  • Would an MPA negatively impact the BC economy and result in a loss of jobs?
  • Would an MPA help the public recognize it as an important ecosystem and would promote further conservation efforts?
• Once all the prompts have been discussed or there has been adequate discussion (approx. 30 minutes), the class will have to make a decision on whether the MPA will be established, as well as create 5 main restrictions or rules for use of the area.
• Wrap-up the session by summarizing the session and making career connections.

Considerations

• You can give students more or less time for each section of the debate depending on the size of the group and engagement level.

Wrap-up

[Show Slide 28-30].

• Most times, there will be lots of varying opinions on how to best approach conservation.
• People often rely on the regions that need to be protected for their livelihoods in some way.
• It’s important to balance both the ecological benefits and economic benefits the region provides.

Refer to the manual for full instructions and discussion prompts