Ocean Education Activities
Objectives:
Students will be able to:
- give examples of how to protect watersheds for the benefit
of humans, wildlife, and oceans; and
- evaluate lifestyle changes to minimize damaging effects
of human activities on ocean health. Method: Students role-play
a round-table discussion about human use of a local watershed.
Background:
A watershed is any area of land that drains
into a particular body of water. It guides all rain, melted
ice and snow, and run-off (from streams, ponds, wetlands,
and lakes) into a specific river system. All watersheds run
into drainage basins, which, in turn, flow into the ocean.
All the world's inhabitants live in watersheds.
Left alone, watersheds exist in natural balance with their
environment. Rivers erode the highlands around them in a gradual
process that helps maintain a natural, dynamic balance. Human
settlements, on the other hand, tend to accelerate erosion
while further impacting on watersheds through land clearing,
dam building, farming, and industry.
An important thing to remember about watersheds
is that they're single units, which are connected to other
watersheds as they flow downstream. Anything that affects
an upstream watershed eventually affects other sites downstream.
A town that gets its drinking water directly from a river,
for example, is acutely aware of upstream activities affecting
its water quality, such as another town that's discharging
effluents.
Watershed contamination is a serious problem
for humans and wildlife. Aquatic species are often the first
to suffer from contaminated water. Slight increases in acidity
can destroy the natural balance of water. A single instance
of contamination, such as the spillage of industrial waste,
can damage an aquatic food web for decades.
In this simulation, students view an imperilled
watershed and coastal area as a microcosm for environmental
concerns involved in management decisions. They struggle with
overlapping and conflicting uses of land and water. This predicament
encourages them to pursue ways in which their responsible
actions can protect and restore the environmental integrity
of watersheds and coasts for the good of people, wildlife,
and oceans. When students reach a consensus about local issues,
the activity shifts to the impacts of their decisions on the
ocean as a whole. The activity ends in contemplation of the
idea that the Earth is one vast watershed whose waterways
drain into the ocean.
Extensions:
- Infuse concerns about overfishing into the role-play
by incorporating offshore activities.
- Trace any stream or river system that passes through
your community from its source to its point of entry into
the ocean. List all the sites you can where water quality
may suffer and suggest how to reverse the process.
- Find out about zoning laws and land- and water-use regulations
in your area.
- As a follow-up to the role-play, have students write
up an "Action Plan." Submit it to the federal department
of Fisheries and Oceans for consideration when implementing
the Oceans Act.
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