Find teaching resources for World Ocean Day which is celebrated around the world on 8th June each year.
World Ocean Day is celebrated around the world on the 8th June each year. It is great moment to show your class how sustainable fishing contributes to protecting our ocean.
Our ocean supports life on Earth in many different ways. It feeds billions of people, regulates the world's climate and is home to an extraordinary variety of life. But the ocean is now unquestionably under pressure. Over a third of global fish stocks are exploited at an unsustainable rate.
Together, we can spread the word and help ocean lovers to understand what sustainable fishing means and what they can do to protect the ocean.
Lesson Plan
ARTICLES, WORKSHEETS & CARD SORTING ACTIVITY
Case Studies
Sustainable fishing means more choice (through consumer driven change)
Seth McCurry, Senior Commercial Outreach Manager for the Marine Stewardship Council, explains how consumers can drive fisheries to improve their fishing operations through sustainable choices. Fisheries can work to ensure abundance and minimise their impacts on other species, habitats and the wider ecosystem, by fishing at sustainable levels. When consumers choose sustainably caught fish and seafood, more fisheries are incentivised to harvest sustainably. This means more choice on the supermarket shelves.
Sustainable fishing means more fish in the ocean (fishing supported by science)
Sustainable fishing allows fish stocks to replenish themselves naturally and balances the needs of the marine ecosystem for present and future generations. In this short explainer Alex Holdgate, fisheries scientist and Outreach Manager for the Marine Stewardship Council, describes how scientists help fishers improve the sustainability of their catch and keep abundance high. Following scientific advice and fishing at sustainable levels, gives fish stocks the ability to grow, with more time to reproduce, resulting in bigger, healthier fish communities in the future.
Sustainable fishing means more life in the ocean (fishing that supports abundance and biodiversity)
Ocean ecosystems are delicately balanced environments. A successful and robust ecosystem needs a combination of abundance and a variety of species to thrive and withstand environmental challenges. In this short explainer Ritu Singh, Science Communications and Content Producer for the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), describes how scientists look at the balance of abundance and different species to calculate how much life there is in the ocean. By fishing at sustainable levels, fisheries work to ensure abundance while minimising their impacts on other species, habitats and the wider ecosystem. These efforts this have positive effects on ocean communities and biodiversity.
BUILD AN OCEAN WALL
Dive into this activity with your students to co-create an Ocean Wall - a colourful collage of all the things the ocean gives us and the ways we can protect it. Through drawings, recycled materials and images, they will complete the sentence: "Sustainable Fishing means more..." This activity will help your students to understand how sustainable fishing supports a more vibrant, abundant and healthy ocean, and to express their vision of what "more" could mean. When your group's masterpiece is ready, share it with the world. Add your work of art to social media and tag us on Instagram and Facebook at @MSCecolabel or use the hashtag #MoreFish. We'd love to celebrate your creativity!
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