Global Citizenship in Fisheries and Aquaculture

Lesson 2

How Does Seafood Get to the Store and on to My Table?

English - French

In this lesson, students will learn to:

• Become familiar with some of the different types of fisheries and aquaculture practices found throughout the world
• Look at worldwide distributions of water based food resources and follow their journey from the catching and raising to the processing and to the selling
• Understand how some practices are sustainable and others are not
• Become aware that for many people in the world, fisheries and aquacultures are much more than a livelihood
• Use critical thinking and informed decision making

Overview:

In lesson one, the students investigated where the seafood they buy at the local supermarkets came from. They became aware of the global connections that bring food to their table, and how as consumers, they can make decisions on what to buy and be part of the global connections.

Lesson two will give students the opportunity to do a more in-depth investigation of the global village as they explore some of the many different types of fisheries and aquaculture practices around the world. They will also be introduced to the chain of events that bring the seafood to their tables, from the catching or growing, to the processing distribution, marketing and selling.

The activities found in lesson two will also introduce the students to two crucial issues.

1) Sustainability and some of the effects that different types of fisheries and aquaculture practices have on water -based ecosystems. They will look back at the results of their surveys and analyze which species are threatened, which are abundant, which are caught or raised in a sustainable fashion. By going through this process, the students can start applying critical skills and make informed decisions.

2) Connecting with other human beings. Real people are fishing and doing aquaculture. Moreover, these activities are often much more than a means to make a living: in many countries, fisheries and aquaculture serve far more than a strictly economic function.

Lesson two is a springboard to lessons about the different countries, where we start looking at the lives of fishers and aquaculturists in Mozambique, Malawi, and Bolivia. The lessons for each country have a slightly different focus or approach, but in general illustrate how many people in the world rely on the seas, lakes and rivers, not only to survive, but also as an integral part of their lives with all its challenges.

*You might feel the need to reduce the time spent on the first three activities of this lesson, but activity four is important as a link to the country-specific lessons.

Subject(s):

Social Studies, Science

Skills:

Gathering, reading for information, interpreting and presenting information, analyzing data, mapping

Prescribed Learning Outcomes:

See Appendix

Time Required:

4 activities, 30 to 60 minutes each

Activities:

1. Types of Fisheries and Aquaculture
2. Distribution of Resources: Threatened or Abundant?
3. "Seafood Journey": From Capture or Culture to Retail (1)
4. “Seafood Journey": From Capture or Culture to Sales (2)

Suggestions for Extensions:

See Appendix

Materials and References:

See individual activities or Appendix