Finding a Balance

Stewardship—Finding a Balance

Summary: The How Many Fish? topic guide in the previous section helps students learn about the concept of population ecology and sustainability in fishing practices. Each activity ends with a stewardship component, highlighted here, which challenges students to devise solution that promote sustainability.

Concepts to teach: Problem-solving, engineering design, fisheries management, sustainability

Goals: Students use models to design potential solutions to overharvesting.

Standards:
H.3S.1, H.3S.2
H.4D.1
SS.HS.EC.01

Specific Objectives:

  1. Recognize that fish populations remain stable when life history characteristics, ecological relationships, and harvesting practices are in balance.
  2. Propose an improvement to a fishing or gear that increases sustainability.
  3. Explain the role of fisheries managers in maintaining sustainability of the ocean’s resources.

Activity Links and Resources:

  • NOAA Fisheries Northwest Regional Office School Curricula highlight how scientific evidence and stakeholder input help NOAA Fisheries policy makers and manager to decide on regulations and other actions to conserve and manage the resources for which the agency is responsible.
  • What can we do to keep seafood sustainable? Share your findings with others through a display, report, skit, or Public Service Announcement. Some examples:
    • Recreational Fishing Practices
      • Wash Your Boat—Use background information from the Oregon State Marine Board to create a PSA advising the recreational fishing community how to reduce the spread of invasive species.
      • Article: Make sure you have the correct escape cord on your crab pots –  explains how using cotton cord on crab pots can save thousands of crabs.
    • Seafood Consumer Practices
      • Seafood Watch —Monterey Bay Aquarium’s guide to sustainable seafood.
      • NOAA Fishwatch—Helps consumers make informed decisions about U.S. seafood
      • Help Wild Salmon—Salmon-safe’s top ten ways you can take action and be a salmon hero.

Assessment:

  • Use or develop formative assessment probes to gauge student understanding about the water cycle. The following probes from Uncovering Student Ideas in Science, vol. 3 and 4 could be applied or modified (to obtain Uncovering Student Ideas in Science publications or access sample chapters, visit the NSTA website):
    • Is it a model? (vol. 4)—elicits student ideas about how models are used to explore and test scientific ideas.
    • Doing science (vol. 3)—explores scientific inquiry concepts.
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You’re Excluded

Human Impacts—You’re Excluded

Summary: Although fishing gear may be designed to catch a particular species of marketable fish, sometimes other species also accidentally get caught. Through hands on simulation, students explore how fishing trawls may be modified to reduce bycatch.

Concepts to teach: Bycatch, excluder, trawl, iterative, efficiency, selectivity, engineering design

Goals: To deal with the unwanted problems associated with bycatch, the fishing industry must change their gear and/or their practices. Students design models of excluder devices to solve this real-world problem.

Standards:
H.4D.1, H.4D.2

Specific Objectives:

  1. Define “bycatch” and how it affects the fishing industry and the environment.
  2. Describe how a fishing trawl works to catch fish.
  3. Create and demonstrate how a model “excluder” reduces bycatch.

Activity Links and Resources:

Assessment:

  • Discussion Questions included in the You’re Excluded curriculum.
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How Many Fish?

Human Impacts—How Many Fish?

Summary: How many fish do humans harvest, and can we harvest as many as we can and still expect fish populations to remain stable over time? Through hands-on modeling activities, students explore issues of population ecology and stock management issues in the Pacific Northwest. All of the activities presented here lead to stewardship activities that are listed in the Finding a Balance topic guide.

Concepts to teach: Renewable and non-renewable resources, population ecology, fisheries management, sustainability

Goals: The ocean’s resources are vast but not unlimited. With the help of scientific research and modeling, fisheries managers make rules about fishing so that the industry will remain (or become) sustainable.

Standards:
H.3S.1, H.3S.2, H.3S.3

Specific Objectives:

  1. Recognize that fish populations remain stable when life history characteristics, ecological relationships, and harvesting practices are in balance.
  2. Explain how technology changes success in fishing.
  3. Demonstrate how fisheries managers use scientific research, models, and math to determine how many fish can be harvested.

Activity Links and Resources:

  • From the Alaska Fisheries Science Center:
    • Population Estimation—This narrated learning module introduces the concept of population estimation and then provides five examples using different species to describe the various methods AFSC scientists use to estimate population sizes.
    • Fish Fetch—This activity helps students understand how to estimate population size from samples.
  • Use the NOAA Fisheries: Office of Science and Technology website to download actual data on fish caught from year to year. The site allows you to sort for a specific species such as “salmon, sockeye” and for a location, “Oregon.” Use the data for graphing, finding mean and median, comparing, and other math exercises.
  • NOAA Fisheries Northwest Regional Office School Curricula highlight how scientific evidence and stakeholder input help NOAA Fisheries policy makers and manager to decide on regulations and other actions to conserve and manage the resources for which the agency is responsible.
  • Population Dynamics – Selena Hepell, Associate Professor in Fisheries and Wildlife at OSU, developed these lesson plan for undergraduates.
    • Population Estimates—Students conduct a mark-recapture experiment, estimate population size using two different mark-recapture techniques (in both a closed and open system), and learn how to construct a histogram of population estimation data.
      Lab Printable | Answer Sheet
    • Trends—Learn some Excel basics, create graphs of population size through time, fit a trend line to the data, and determine if the trend is significant.
      Lab Printable | Answer Sheet
    • Logistic Model—In this lab, students explore the logistic equation, its behavior under stochastic conditions, and some basic harvest simulations. Includes Answer Sheet.
      Lab Printable | Answer Sheet
    • Potential Biological Removal (PBR) for Whales—Students calculate limits to the allowable human-caused mortality of cetaceans and pinnipeds. Lab Printable
  • Impacts of Invasive Species on marine species populations
    • Olympia Oyster—This library-research lesson from Ocean and Coastal Interdisciplinary Science (OACIS) focuses on the effect a non-native Pacific Oyster has on populations of Olympia Oyster in the Puget Sound region.

Assessment:

  • Assessment worksheets and other tools are included in the NOAA Fisheries curricula.
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Fishing

Human Use of Resources—Fishing

Summary: For many Oregonians, one of the primary ways they connect with the ocean is through catching and eating seafood. This topic guide explores the story of Oregon’s fishing history, and invites students to reflect on the impacts seafood and fishing have in their own lives.

Concepts to teach: Recreational fishing, commercial fishing

Goals: Students recognize that they are connected to the ocean through the seafood they eat.

Standards:
H.3S.1
SS.HS.HS.01

Specific Objectives:

  1. List three species of fish brought in to Oregon ports and consumed by at least some students in the class.
  2. Find out what kinds of seafood can be purchased locally, and from where the seafood was harvested.
  3. Identify changes that have occurred to the fishing industry in Oregon over the past century.

Activity Links and Resources:

  • The Oregon Story: Fishing—This OPB documentary offers on-line teacher resources, including complementary classroom activities, maps, and extensions.
  • ODFW list of sport fish species of Oregon—Students may have personal experiences fishing for or eating these species.
  • Sustainable U.S. Seafood—This resource from Alaska Fisheries Science Center was created to help educators introduce the complex process of how seafood gets to market.
    • What’s science got to do with it?—Introduces the science behind sustainable seafood.
    • Sets the stage for science and math activities in the Human Impacts and Stewardship sections of this focus area.
  • Bayfront Quest—This self-guided, place-based exploration of Newport’s commercial fishing industry can be used as a field trip activity, or as a model for creating a local Quest.

Assessment:

  • Probe: Connections to the Ocean—Consider specifically how students are connected to the ocean through diet.
  • Based on Fishing Inquiry studies, create a map showing the origins of various seafood that can be purchased locally.
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Beach Bill

Human Use of Resources—Beach Bill

Summary: For many Oregonians, one of the primary ways they connect with the ocean is through recreational tourism. Over one million vacationers visit Oregon’s beaches each year. This topic guide explores the history and unique legislation concerning public beach access in Oregon.

Concepts to teach: Beach bill, legislation, public access, history

Goals: Students discover the story of how Oregon’s beaches have been used for transportation, recreation, and the harvesting of natural resources. The passage of the 1967 Beach Bill continues to affect the way people interact with Oregon beaches today.

Standards:
SS.HS.GE.03, SS.HS.HS.07, SS.HS.SA.01

Specific Objectives:

  1. Identify the early practical and legislative relationship between the Oregon Department of Transportation and Oregon’s beaches.
  2. Describe the implications of the 1967 Beach Bill
  3. Recognize that public beach access in Oregon is unique compared to many other coastal U.S. states.

Activity Links and Resources:

Assessment:

  • Who uses the beach?  Who owns the beach?  Explore these questions with concept maps.
  • Write a persuasive essay answering “Who owns the beach?” from a personal perspective, or that of a beachfront property owner, recreational fisher, tourist, legislator, or other stakeholder.
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Words from the Ocean

Place—Words from the Ocean

Summary: No matter how far away we might live from the beach, we are culturally connected to the ocean and its resources. Students discover how some common English words and phrases can be tied to maritime history.

Concepts to teach: Language arts, social studies

Goals: Students recognize how the ocean’s prominence in our culture has shaped our language.

Standards:
EL.HS.RS.08

Specific Objectives:

  1. Identify how the modern meaning of several words has changed from the sense they originally had in maritime cultures.
  2. Construct hypotheses as to the original, ocean-related meaning of several everyday words.

Activity Links and Resources:

  • Two resources from Smithsonian’s Ocean Planet exhibition investigate how the ocean has influenced our language:
    • Words from the Ocean—This lesson plan asks student groups to guess the original meanings of several modern words. A worksheet and teacher answer key is provided.
    • Nautical Sayings—A list of eight common sayings and a description of their nautical roots.

Assessment:

  • Use worksheet to try to figure out how the original meaning of each word in the following list is connected to the sea and write your ideas in the space provided.
  • Pick one word and create a THEN and NOW poster contrasting the original meaning of a word or phrase with its modern meaning.
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Algae in Your House

Place—Algae in Your House

Summary: No matter how far away we might live from the beach, we are culturally connected to the ocean and its resources. Students examine the contents of their kitchen cupboards to find evidence of the ocean’s influence.

Concepts to teach: Nutrition, social studies

Goals: Students discover that although we sometimes can neither smell nor taste them, many ingredients in our foods and household products come from the sea.

Standards:
H.3S.1, H.3S.2, H.3S.3

Specific Objectives:

  1. Inventory the types and variety of seafood consumed at home.
  2. Find three products at home or school that contain ingredients derived from marine algae.

Activity Links and Resources:

Assessment:

  • Survey the students’ personal experiences with marine products. Offer a checklist of seafood to find out which types students have eaten before, eat regularly, or have never tried.
  • As a pre-activity homework task, ask students to list all the products from the ocean they can find in their kitchens.
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Team Marine

Stewardship—Team Marine

Summary: Turn environmental awareness into student action. “Team Marine” from Santa Monica High School is an active student group that tries to “raise awareness about the global marine debris, energy and climate change crises through different service learning and community outreach projects.” Team Marine maintains a website with their achievements, resource links, and community outreach ideas.

Concepts to teach: Stewardship, community outreach, public awareness

Goals: Empower students to work as a team and share their learning with the public through creative activities that raise awareness about environmental issues.

Standards:
H.4D.6
SS.HS.GE.07, SS.HS.SA.01

Specific Objectives:

  1. Identify a local water quality issue and simple solutions that the public can undertake to improve environmental health.
  2. Work in conjunction with local water quality stewardship organizations in their existing restoration, clean up, and/or public education campaigns.
  3. Devise an independent way to raise awareness of the water quality issue.

Activity Links and Resources:

  • To identify local water quality issues, explore the Citizen Biomonitoring, Nonpoint Source Pollution, and Real Time Data topic guides.
  • Team Marine—This active student group in California may serve as an inspiration or model for Oregon students. Their website contains descriptions of the activities they have undertaken, competitions in which they have been involved, student-created media public service announcements, and partner links.
  • Surfrider Blue Water Task Force
    • Teach and Test—Throughout the school year, students from 5 southern California high schools coordinate with Surfrider to collect bi-weekly water samples from beaches and wetland areas.
    • Urban Runoff—This video from Green Observers describes the Santa Monica H.S. students’ involvement in the Surfrider Teach and Test program.

Assessment:

  • Produce effective outreach materials to the public that share information and provide steps people can take to improve ocean and watershed health (Ex. poster, PSA, website, public speaking, etc)
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Real Time Data

Human Impacts—Real Time Data

Summary: How is water quality inland related to water quality located downstream? Much real time or near-real-time data collected by scientists and remote sensing equipment are posted online. In this focus area, students access some of these tools to answer questions about water quality.

Concepts to teach: Water quality, real time data, inquiry, downstream

Goals: Students access and interpret water quality data in the classroom using the internet and remote sensing tools. They use the data to answer questions about how water quality inland influences water quality in Oregon’s aquatic, estuarine and marine ecosystems.

Standards:
H.3S.1, H.3S.2, H.3S.3

Specific Objectives:

  1. Gain experience working with real time data.
  2. Address/answer a water quality inquiry using real time data.
  3. Explain how inland and coastal water quality is connected.

Activity Links and Resources:

  • NOAA Estuary Education – Focusing on estuaries, these curriculum modules feature hands-on learning, experiments, field work and data explorations.
  • NANOOS—Collect and interpret real time water quality data from ocean observing buoys. Some buoys are located well up the Columbia River, so students are able to conduct an inquiry to compare and contrast aquatic, estuarine and ocean water quality data.
    • Rhythms of Our Coastal Waters interactive online exhibit leads students through real-time data collection and assessment in Yaquina Bay, Newport.
  • Surfrider’s Blue Water Task Force website—Search for near-real-time data of bacterial counts on beaches.
  • Oregon Beach Monitoring Program—Search this DEQ site for fecal bacteria (enterococcus) counts for selected coastal recreation waters in Oregon.
  • Compare StreamWebs data from different sites in the watershed and throughout Oregon.
  • Using Real-time Data—This guide from Oregon Sea Grant contains links to a host of internet sites that have real-time information that will enhance tradition classroom lessons. With these resources your students can use real-time data to investigate earth systems.

Assessment:

  • Students prepare a scientific lab report that describes the procedures and outcome of their investigation using real-time data.
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Huntington Beach Case Study

Human Impacts—Huntington Beach Case Study

Summary: When bacterial concentration measurements in coastal waters exceed levels considered safe for recreation, beaches may be closed to protect the public. In this case study, students follow the story of a bacterial contamination problem in Huntington Beach, California

Concepts to teach: Bacterial contamination, sewage treatment outflow, water quality regulation

Goals: Students recognize that determining the entity responsible for causing a real life water quality problem can be confusing and complex. Scientific evidence is used to better understand the problem and come up with management solutions.

Standards:
H.4D.3, H.4D.6
SS.HS.SA.01, SS.HS.SA.02, SS.HS.SA.03, SS.HS.SA.04, SS.HS.SA.05, SS.HS.SA.06

Specific Objectives:

  1. Identify multiple potential sources for the bacteria found on Huntington Beach.
  2. Use scientific data to describe why or why not a given potential source is responsible for the contamination.
  3. Describe what resource managers need to know in order to make effective decisions.

Activity Links and Resources:

  • Bacterial Contamination on Beaches—These detailed lesson plans from independent oceanographer Cynthia Cudaback tells the story of bacterial contamination in Huntington Beach, California. Students progressively analyze data to try to figure out the source of contamination and possible remedies.
    • Teachers or students may use this model as a framework for telling similar local story.
    • Debate/discussion/role play: Students play the role of a given stakeholder, and must use available scientific evidence to make recommendations to the sanitation district Board of Control.
  • Testing the Waters—NRDC report on the status of Oregon’s recreational water testing program, released June 2011
  • Caffeinated Coastal Waters —Portland State University reports on a NOAA funded study that found elevated levels of caffeine in Oregon coastal waters, although not necessarily where expected
  • See the Real Time Data topic guide for ways to collect data about bacterial counts on Oregon beaches

Assessment:

  • Assessments included in the Bacterial Contamination on Beaches lesson plans.
  • Identify and characterize a local water quality issue that, like the Huntington Beach example, involves a variety of stakeholders and decision points.
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