BSP Coast Watch

Coastwatch BSP is a programm to study animals, plants and aspects of human impacts on the seashore. The program is suitable for all ages of students.

Programme coordinator

Mr Peter Uhl Pedersen
Birkevang 303,
3250 Gilleleje,
Denmark

e-mail: peter.uhl.pedersen@skolekom.dk

Programme details

BSP Coastwatch is one of BSP common programmes. The aim of it is to raise awareness for our coastal zone as our valuable shared resource, for which we have responsibility.

Coastwatch program is suitable for students in all level. It has a common questionnaire that should be filled in once during two weeks survey time in autumn, usually in September- October. One questionnaire is for 500 m of seashore.

The questionnaire gives a possibility to look, describe and investigate different aspects on the seashore like designation and access to the area, influences from land, coverage of splash zone, plants and animas, litter etc. Water quality of inflows is also analyzed. Coast clean-up would be a good end of the survey. Depending on the age of students the teacher can vary how deeply different questions are studied.

Every participating school will get a report in the end of year. The survey is usually done 12. - 25.09 every year. Please send questionnaires to program coordinator.

Some words from the Program Coordinator of COASTWATCH:

I have got a question about organization of a COASTWATCH events. I have talked with some experienced collage and have made a couple of suggestions.

Suggestions

COASTWATCH FAQ

The sea bed on shallow water (34,0 KB)

Salinity (44,0 KB)

COASTWATCH can stand alone but you could do:

High School:

• Investigate the pollution rate/saprobe investigation at the steams at the coast.
• Collection and identification of animals and plants at the coast and in the shallow water.
• By doing this use of net bottom sediment collector (Kajak/Ekman) from bathing jetty or other bridge. Luther rake at the soft bottom.
• Line taxation of plant societies.
• Investigate the difference of environment in a harbour and the beach outside this.
• Chemical/physical investigation of the water environment: Nutrients, pH, oxygen, methylen blue stability, salinity, redox in the bottom sediment.
• Investigation of sediment.
• Plankton investigation – qualitative with net – quantitative with water collector.
• Hereby the discussion of blue-green algae.
• Visibility estimate by use of Secci disk.
• More accurate surveying of the coast profile.
• Cultivation of bacteria – selective at medium for coliform bacteria.

Secondary school

• Investigation of differences of density of water. Cold/hot and differences in salinity.
• Angling.
• Dissection of fish.
• Photo competition of COASTWATCH investigation. Or a common subject. Time and number of photos are fixed.
• Video documentation of the road of the fish from sea to table.
• Become an expert in a beach/sea subject – and tech this at a minor level. (Why eat fish/shellfish?)(The history of fish eating). Cooperative learning.
• Multiethnic eating habits. Find some pupils from abroad. Do they eat more/less or other species of fish in their home – or in the old home country? How do they cook the fish?
• Fish competition at the Internet. Common and special knowledge. The Latin names of sea organisms. Rare findings.
• The pupils can find a BSP-class in another country and challenge them at active knowledge – and read knowledge about the organism and biology of the beach. And they can chat on tools to angling and experienced stories from the real live.

Primary school

• Build an aquarium with organisms from the low water.
• Play memory with species of fish from the part of Baltic Sea as you are working with.
• The memory game can be used to learn who are living with whom in the environment.
• Taste and guess (in corporation with the local fishmonger): e.g. shark, fish eggs (roe), mussels, snail (Littorina).
• Make your own collection/exhibition of shells from the visited area. Learn the names!
• Make different concentrations of saltwater. Can you taste from where in the Baltic Sea the water have the same salinity?
• Make a little aquarium and look the mussel eat yeast.
• Make art with dry plants from the beach.
• Build castles of sand.
• Make a drawing of a beach. Cut out organisms from the beach and glue them on the right place to live on the drawing.
• Make a plaster mosaic with shells to hang on the wall.
• Make a postcard with algae as picture on the card.

These are the annual reports 2009

2009 annual report

These are the annual reports 2010  

2010 annual report

BSP COASTWATCH QUESTIONNAIRE

Questinnaire_2008.doc (1.28 MB)

questinnaire.doc (486,0 KB)

Articles

Young people have responsibility... Printable version (Adobe Acrobat, 81,4 kB)