Today’s Objective
Develop a sustainable fishing strategy for your
fishing community.
Fishing for Sustainability!
 This activity is a model that will help us demonstrate
what happens when people share a resource.
 Your table is a community of fisherman. You all share
the Blue Lake resources including the fish.
 As you fish, think about your community.
 What are the consequences of your actions?
 What’s going on with your fellow fisherman?
 Is each fisherman making enough money to support
themselves?
 How is your fish population doing?
Fishing: The Rules of the Game!
 Don’t eat your fish… yuck!
 Your Chopsticks are your fishing pole, no fingers!
 Once you catch a fish it must be placed in your cup in
order to count.
 No stabbing or crushing the fish, think about saleability of your fish once they are caught!
 Regular fish are worth $1, Rainbow fish are worth $2.
 You will need to earn at least $2 to survive.
Take some time to practice your
fishing technique!
Game A: Directions
 Place 25 regular goldfish and 5 rainbow goldfish in Blue Lake!
 On the worksheet cross out ‘orange’ and write Regular; cross
out ‘yellow’ and write Rainbow
 For Game A you have no fishing limit.
 You have 15 seconds for each round, each game has four
rounds.
 If you don’t make at least $2, you are done fishing for that game!
 You earn $1 for each regular goldfish and $2 for each rainbow
fish.
 Fish that aren’t caught reproduce. It takes two to make 1. So,
for every pair of fish that you have at the end of the round, you
will get 1 offspring.
 During any round, you may receive an incident card.
Game A Reflection:
 Write a paragraph that explains what happened to the
people, their money and the environment.
 How did the fisherman in your community act while
fishing?
 What were the consequences of their actions?


What happened to the fish species in the lake?
What happened to the fishing community?
Discussion: Tragedy of the Commons
 What is a tragedy?
 A great loss
 What is a commons?
 The shared resource
THINK – PAIR - SHARE
 Was your game an example of a Tragedy of the
Commons?
 Can you think of other examples of a Tragedy of the
Commons?
Vocabulary Word: Sustainable
 Sustainability is the
capacity to support or
maintain long term.
 For a system to be
sustainable; it should be
 Socially ‘fair’
 Economically
‘affordable’
 Environmentally
‘renewable’ long term
Was your Fishing
Community Sustainable
during Game A?
Why or why not?
GAME D:
Avoiding the Tragedy of the Commons
 Your group’s goal is to create a sustainable plan to avoid the
Tragedy of the Commons.
 Your goal is to..
 Maintain the Environment (the fish and the lake)
 Maintain a Community where all people are treated fairly
 Ensure all people have enough money to feed their family.
 Write down your plan including fishing limits!
 You will play four rounds using your new fishing limits;
keep all other rules the same.
 Don’t forget to record your data!
GAME D - Reflection
 Your goal was to create a Sustainable Fishing
Community; explain whether or not you were
successful.
 How can you tell if it is a Sustainable Fishing
Community?




Can it support people and the environment long term?
Does it treat all fisherman fairly?
Did each person catch enough fish to survive?
Is it renewable, are there breeding populations left for
both species?
 Was it difficult to create a sustainable plan? Why or
why not?
Turn in for a Class Assignment
Grade…
 Your completed data recording sheet for Game A and B
 Written answers …
1. Game A Reflection:
2. Your Plan for Sustainability
3. Game B Reflection: