Social SciencesFreePrintable

Ocean Sustainability Worksheet

A free social sciences worksheet ready for your classroom. Open in Kuraplan to grab the print-ready PDF, customize it for your students, or generate a fresh version in seconds.

Download now

Name:Date:

Ocean Sustainability Worksheet

You are advising a coastal community on a proposed marine protection plan. Read the briefing, then use evidence to weigh ecological, cultural and economic needs. Answer in complete sentences where appropriate.

Community briefing

At Te Rimu Bay, a fictional coastal community in Aotearoa New Zealand, people value healthy reefs and beaches. Local fishers rely on snapper and shellfish, a small tourism business runs wildlife tours, and nearby streams carry sediment and fertiliser runoff after heavy rain. Residents have also found plastic litter on the shore. Mana whenua describe the bay as a taonga and emphasise kaitiakitanga: a responsibility to care for the environment so it can sustain life now and in the future. The council is considering a seasonal no-take area around the reef, better farm runoff controls, and regular beach clean-ups. Each option has costs, benefits and different effects on people.

1.Name two different pressures on Te Rimu Bay described in the briefing. For each, identify whether it mainly affects water quality, marine life, or both.

2.Explain one way that runoff from activities on land could reach the bay and affect it.

3.A resident proposes placing a seasonal no-take area around the reef. Which part of Te Rimu Bay, described in the briefing, would be most directly affected by this rule?

The reef
The stream
The settlement
The beach

Weigh the options

Consider how decisions can affect ecosystems, livelihoods and cultural relationships with place. No single group experiences every impact in the same way.

4.What does kaitiakitanga mean in the context of the briefing? Choose the best explanation.

Using a resource as quickly as possible before others do
A responsibility to care for the environment and sustain it for present and future generations
Keeping all people away from the coast permanently
Making decisions only for economic growth

5.Match each proposed action with the impact it most directly aims to reduce.

Seasonal no-take area around the reef
Farm runoff controls
Regular beach clean-ups

Sediment and fertiliser entering the stream and bay
Fishing pressure on marine populations
Plastic litter on the shore and in the water

6.A fisher is concerned that a no-take area could reduce income in the short term. Give one possible benefit to marine life and one fair response the council could consider for affected fishers.

7.True or false: If a beach clean-up removes visible rubbish, it also solves fertiliser runoff entering the bay. Explain briefly.

8.The council has limited funding and can begin only two actions this year. Select two actions from the briefing and justify your choice using one ecological reason and one community or economic reason.

9.Propose one measurable way the community could check whether its plan is working after one year. State what to measure and what result would suggest improvement.

10.Finish the council’s guiding principle: “A sustainable ocean decision should protect … while also …” Complete the sentence with a specific example from Te Rimu Bay.