On Thursday 8th June, MGC Celebrated World Oceans Day with an under the sea themed display erected by the environment team running along the length of the external corridor from the portables to the gym. Images of sea creatures in pristine environments contrasted with those stuck in nets or swimming in plastic pollution with captions “Make the Ocean Great again” and “Don’t be a tree hugger, be a SEA hugger”, which reminded us that the phytoplankton and algae in the sea provide us with more oxygen than all the forests on “Earth” combined. Why is our blue planet called Earth? After all, ¾ of its surface is covered by sea!
At lunchtime, we welcomed Sally Bolton from the Marine Stewardship Council
who talked to our students about Sustainable Seafood and how to be a good Ocean Steward. All visitors were treated with as much sustainable canned SkipJack Tuna as they were willing to eat, donated by the MSC certified John West!
We concluded World Oceans day by finishing off our papier-mâché life sized Yellow fin Tuna piñata. We couldn’t bring ourselves to burst the tuna on the day, so we plan to host an end of term piñata ceremony using fishing “poles” to symbolise the great work conservation organisations like the MSC, Greenpeace and the Australian Marine Conservation Society have done to increase awareness about sustainable fishing methods. For more information about Pole and line fishing and other ways you can make an informed seafood choice as a consumer, head to the AMCS webpage or download their Sustainable seafood app.