Exploring an underwater world.

this issue

Oil Slick P.3 Disappearing Act P.4

An Ocean of Garbage P.5 Shark Attack P.6

Vanishing Fish P.7 Disappearing Act P.8

Endangered Dinosaurs Under the Sea P.9

Wenonah Elementary School

Class 3-4

ISSUE 1

A Sea of Trash P.10

March 2012

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Imagine you were on a cruise ship and it crashed and start-

ed to leak oil. Next, you started to see oil cover the whole

ocean surface. Then, you see oil covered animals pop up to

the surface. You would feel horrible for what happened and

wonder what you could do to stop it.

Icky Sticky

Sea life throughout the oceans are getting sick: sharks, oc-

topi, shags and fish. Most are dying and some are still try-

ing to survive, yet it is not easy to survive in an oil spill. It

is not easy for the sea animals to get food either because

their food is also covered in oil. So when they go to eat,

they will get sick and die.

The Help

When the oily waves hit the beach it absorbs in the sand. Mommy

birds expect to see beautiful baby birds, but instead they see gooey

baby birds. Sea turtles have a hard life too. They lay their eggs in the

sand and their lives can’t go on. Oil gets to all these creatures and

we do nothing in return to save them, yet they do good for us.

Bon Voyage

The helpless animals are get-

ting covered with oil, so people

are trying to save them. Some

live and some don’t. Some

people think we cannot help,

but we can! A smart person

used his brain and thought of a

simple way to clean oil out

from the oceans. You can use

hair!

In Return

Think about what we do for

these animals in return. The

boat loses its pieces and they

start to loose oil. Many people,

such as fishermen, depend on

the sea for jobs. If the sea gets

covered in oil, then their jobs

become twice as hard. Oil cov-

ered animals are getting sick

and dying. A lot of places have

been destroyed by oil spills:

The Gulf, Spain, Atlantic

Ocean and Lativia. Captains of

ships need to be more careful

and think about what can hap-

pen if they continue to make

these terrible mistakes.

Oil Slick By Kasey Volz, Courtney Sullivan, and Hannah Acevedo

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Imagine the colorful, bright, beauti-

ful fish gone. Nothing in the ocean

just water. If you were swimming

in the ocean, you would see nothing.

No fluke, no flounder, no salmon.

All because of overfishing.

Snatched Up

We are losing sea food, all because

of fishermen. With no seafood it

doesn’t just hurt people it hurts ani-

mals too. Fishermen are catching

too much fish at a time, so we are

losing too many fish in the ocean.

Three Ways to Disappear

There are three causes of fish be-

coming endangered. The first one is

overfishing. Overfishing is catching

too much fish. Another cause is pol-

lution. Pollution is when oil spills in

to the ocean and kills fish. Pollution

is also when garbage fills the oceans.

The last cause is global warming.

Global warming affects fish. They are

starting to disappear because they are

losing their habitats. When fish start

to disappear, other fish lose their food

source and the ecosystem starts to dis-

appear. This hurts humans because

we have less food.

Spread the Word

Regulating and making laws about

overfishing can help us have more fish

in the ocean. If we can make laws for

overfishing, then there will be bright,

colorful and beautiful fish in the

ocean. Everybody should get in-

formed and spread the word about

overfishing, so we can stop it.

Stop the Madness

If we don’t stop overfishing the food

chain will get out of order, and all of

the animals will die. The next thing

you know we will disappear!

Disappearing Act!

by Johnny Yopp, Corey Wenger, and Casey Prinz

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In the Pacific Ocean a big whirl pool filled with plastic and

garbage is destroying the ocean and the sea animals that

live in it. Did you know that 3.5 million tons of waste are

floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean?

Dangerous Place

The garbage patch is a disgusting and dangerous place for sea

animals. The sea animals are eating the plastic and garbage,

and then they are dying. Soon there will be no more fish left

in the Pacific Ocean. Sea birds are also eating the plastic and gar-

bage.

Fisherman

Fishermen do most of the harm to the sea animals. They

leave behind their broken nets and fishing lines. The sea ani-

mals are getting trapped in them and they are dying. The

nets and fishing lines are killing all of the sea animals that

people eat. Seals are also getting trapped in fishing gear that

has been left behind.

Save the Ocean

The garbage patch is really big. The garbage patch is twice

the size of Texas. We need to save the Pacific Ocean from

the 3.5 million tons of garbage. We need to stop the garbage

patch from growing.

An Ocean of Garbage by Liam McGeever and Kevin Zanfordino

Everyone Stop Littering!

We need to stop littering to

save the oceans. You can help.

The next time you go to the

beach you can put your gar-

bage in a garbage can instead

of throwing it on the ground.

You could even take your gar-

bage home. If we all work to-

gether, we can make a differ-

ence!

This bird died because it ate

garbage in the ocean. It’s belly

is full of plastic!

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A shark was swimming peacefully in

the ocean… until it got caught in a

fishermen’s net. Thanks to the fisher-

men sharks are going to be on the en-

dangered species list.

Predators Of The Sea

Sharks can weigh up to 5,000

pounds, and sharks can swim up to 15

miles per hour! Sharks grow to an

average of 15 feet long. There are

many species of sharks. Most sharks

are found in cool, coastal waters

around the world. Sharks are the

most ferocious predators in the sea.

Lots of people are afraid of sharks,

but sharks don’t harm people. Peo-

ple are attacking innocent sharks.

Less Soup = More Sharks

Sharks are slowly becoming extinct.

People are overfishing in the oceans.

This is making the sharks starve.

Sharks prey are beginning to disap-

pear in places where sharks live. They

prey on sea turtles, sea lions, small

toothed whales and seals. People are also

hunting sharks for food. People in China are

hunting sharks for their fins. They use the

fins to make shark fin soup. Humans have to

stop overfishing and hunting sharks to save

them from becoming extinct.

The Predator Disappears

If sharks become extinct, the ocean’s food

chain will breakdown and be unbalanced.

Sharks are helpful. Sharks keep the amount

of fish in the ocean from growing too large. If

they become extinct, there will be too many

fish in the ocean.

Help the Sharks!

The best thing to do is stop killing sharks.

People should stop killing the fish that sharks

prey on. People should start a foundation to

help sharks stay alive longer. People can also

help make laws that limit the amount of fish

being taken out of the ocean. The govern-

ment should make a law to ban shark finning.

Sharks are very important to earth. They help

earth and the ocean. People should stop mak-

ing shark fin soup. People definitely should

stop hunting sharks.

Shark Attack! by Matthew Chaparro and

Michael Fasano

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Have you ever wondered

what the ocean would look

like without amazing fish?

By the time your children get

older, the oceans will be

empty. Fishermen will lose

their jobs, and then fish sec-

tions will be done for. The

food chain will decrease, and

marine animals will die from

hunger. We won’t have any

more fish to eat.

Fishy Where Are You?

Overfishing is when humans,

such as fishermen, and

predators like birds, seals,

dolphins, sharks, and much

more are killing, eating, and

catching too many fish. Be-

cause of these issues, the fish

are decreasing in the ocean.

Shame on us

Fishermen are taking up too

many fish with their nets. Peo-

ple are polluting the ocean, and

other marine animals are eat-

ing fish. If we don’t stop now,

no more fish will be in the

ocean. Some people depend on

fish for their diet.

Clear Waters

It is important not to over fish

because fish are a big part of

the food chain. If the ecosys-

tem dies, then humans

and animals will die!

Lend A Helping Fin

Hearing these awful

things happening to fish

makes you want to help.

Here are some ways you

can help! You can warn

people about the short-

age of fish in the ocean,

and you can learn about

fishermen overfishing.

Attention Fish Lover

If we don’t stop now,

people will lose their

jobs, animals won’t have

any fish to eat and peo-

ple won’t be as healthy

as they are now. Every

type of fish will be ex-

tinct.

Stop overfishing!

Vanishing Fish by Victoria Duong, Kennadie Hallum, and Tyler Yarrobino

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Cold Blooded Rescue

If we don’t help now, it will

be too later. If you are a

turtle lover you should help

save the turtles. For tips on

how you can help sea tur-

tles, send a self-addressed,

stamped envelope to Cen-

ter for Marine Conserva-

tion, 1725 DeSales Street,

N.W., Washington, DC

Can you imagine a world with no sea turtles? Well if we don’t help now, we will have no sea tur-

tles in our oceans. They are disappearing and becoming extinct.

Giants Under the Sea

Sea turtles are hard shell marine creatures. Sea turtles live in warm waters. They also eat jelly

fish and plants from the ocean. There are seven different types of sea turtles. They are reptiles.

The green sea turtle can be 4 feet long and 440 pounds.

Hunting and Catching

Hunters, called poachers, are illegally hunting sea turtles. They sell their skin and shells for

money. People use the sea turtle’s skin and shells to make soup. This is a delicious meal in Por-

tugal. If poachers keep on catching and killing sea turtles, we won’t have any more left.

Watch Out Sea Turtle Lovers

It gets even worse because fishermen are catching sea turtles in nets. The sea turtles get stuck in

the nets and can’t move. The sea turtles start to panic, drowned and die. This is bad because sea

turtles will be gone. Ships are a problem too. They crash at sea and spill oil. Sea turtles get cov-

ered in oil and become sticky. Then they can’t breathe, and eventually they die. Global warm-

ing is harming sea turtles. Sea turtles need warm water to live in. Global warming is making the

oceans frigid. Global warming is destroying their habitat.

Endangered Dinosaurs

Under the Sea

by Sarah Patach, Aryton Henriques, and Kevin Coenen

Sea turtles often mistake plastic bags in the water

for jelly fish, their favorite meal. They choke and

die from eating garbage left behind by humans.

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How would you feel if strangers were

coming into your home, taking your

food, and killing you without permis-

sion? Well you probably don’t think

it’s a good idea, but it is actually hap-

pening to dolphins. If dolphins are ex-

tinct, the food chain will be broken

down. It is very important for us to

save dolphins lives, but we have to

want to save their lives.

Broken Down Food Chain

We are harming dolphins, which will

harm the food chain. If the food

chain dies , then meat and fish won’t

be in our system and we won’t have

protein for our bodies. If that happens,

we won’t have much energy. When

dolphins are looking for a snack, they

chase fish to shallow water. Sea birds

and dolphins work together to eat the

fish. If dolphins are extinct, sea birds

won’t have food. This will cause pests

and insects to take over and eat our

plants and crops.

Dying Dolphins

Every second we breathe, an-

other pod or group of dol-

phins are dying. Pollution

and fishermen are harming

dolphins. Fishermen are capturing dol-

phins in tuna nets. Dolphins get

caught in tuna nets because dolphins

and tuna follow the same path. When

dolphins get caught in tuna nets, they

drown because they are mammals and

need air to breathe. When people pol-

lute, dolphins get diseases and then

they will die. People are polluting the

air with dangerous gas, harmful plastic,

and garbage.

Plan to Protect

Humans can save dolphins by recycling

different products such as: paper, plas-

tic, and Styrofoam. If we save dolphins,

we can change the world. People can

help in many different ways.

We have to stop these human activi-

ties because if dolphins die then the

food chain would be unbalanced. Some

people think that dolphins are useless

creatures, so humans want to kill them.

MAKE A DIFFERENCE AND SAVE

DOLPHINS!!!!!!!!!

Hope for Dolphins

` by Alyssia Alfaithah, Laila

Zivkovic, Kate Haun

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Stop Littering

People should stop littering in

our oceans and start cleaning all

that garbage up. Since we love

our ocean and need it to live, we

should stop harming it because it

gives us fish so we can eat. It’s

time we give the ocean some-

thing back in return.

Have you ever realized what is really happening in the middle of the Pacific Ocean? It’s called the

Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It holds 3.5 million tons of waste, and kills over 2,000 animals in the

ocean every year. It is too big for just a few people to help. Everybody needs to help out.

Swirly Whirly

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is swirling water currents known as the North Pacific Gyre. The wa-

ter swirls so fast, that it sucks the garbage in. A gyre is a large, slow –moving spiral current, driven by

wind. These currents are known as “garbage traps”. Without people’s help, it won’t stop. It will just

get worst. It first started in Alaska, got to Japan and traveled around to the Pacific Ocean. The gar-

bage patch is huge. It is TWICE as big as Texas! It holds that much garbage! The bigger it gets, the

more marine animals it kills. There will be no more animals left in our oceans if this keeps going.

Junk Food

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is affecting our sea animals. All the animals are eating up the gar-

bage thinking it’s food. If they eat all the garbage, they will die. Then we will have no marine animals

in our ocean. One million birds are eating the garbage. They are dying because the plastic is not

right for them to eat.

Food Chain

The garbage patch effects animals and humans. If fish eat the garbage, and the fishermen catch fish,

then the people who eat that fish will get sick. The Garbage Patch is also causing the ocean’s food

chain to break down. The food chain works like this: Sharks are eating the tuna, the tuna are eating

the small fish, and the small fish are eating the garbage. If the animals eat the garbage they will infect

the other fish.

A Sea Of Trash by Kristen Frawley and Nicholas Wittreich

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