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Overfishing and Aquaculture (Grades 6-8)

Students discover the sources of various fish and seafood, compare wild-caught and farm-raised aquaculture systems, and use a simulation to learn how overfishing can damage the ocean ecosystem.

Grades
6 – 8
Estimated Time
Two 1-hour class periods
Updated
January 31, 2024
Sea fish farm
Image: adokon/iStock

Background

Lesson Activities

Credits

Author

Stephanie Titzel | North Carolina Farm Bureau Ag in the Classroom

Acknowledgements

  • Activity 1 was added by the National Center for Agricultural Literacy.
  • Activity 2 was adapted with permission from Blue World TVs lesson, The Lifespan of Overfishing.

Sources

  1. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/13/top-10-seafood_n_959961.html
  2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seafood
  3. https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2016/october/americans-seafood-consumption-below-recommendations/
  4. https://www.ars.usda.gov/plains-area/gfnd/gfhnrc/docs/news-2013/eat-fish-which-fish-that-fish-go-fish/
  5. http://www.ift.org/Knowledge-Center/Learn-About-Food-Science/Food-Facts/WildCaught-Fish-vs-FarmRaised-Fish.aspx
  6. http://thenaa.net/faqs-about-us-aquaculture

Standards

National Content Area Standards

  • Career & Technical Education
    • AFNR (Grades 6-8): Natural Resource Systems Career Pathway
      • NRS.01.02: Classify different types of natural resources in order to enable protection, conservation, enhancement and management in a particular geographical region.
      • NRS.01.04: Apply ecological concepts and principles to aquatic natural resource systems.
      • NRS.02.02: Assess the impact of human activities on the availability of natural resources.
  • Science
    • MS-ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
      • MS-ESS3-3: Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.
      • MS-ESS3-4: Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per-capita consumption of natural resources impact Earth’s systems.
    • MS-LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
      • MS-LS2-1: Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem.