Activities

The following activities are downloadable as .pdfs to share with your students. Answers are highlighted in red below.

Multiple Choice Questions (download as .pdf)

1. What does EEZ stand for?

a. Exclusive Economic Zone
b. Exclusive Entry Zone
c. Extra Export Zone
d. English Economic Zone

2. How many nautical miles does a country's territorial sea extend from its coastline?

a. 3
b. 50
c. 12
d. 200

3. Which of the following is not a real international strait?

a. Strait of Gibraltar
b. Strait of Hormuz
c. Strait of the Mediterranean
d. Strait of Bab el Mandeb

4. The Patagonian toothfish is an overfished species that is often illegally fished in the Southern oceans. This fish is served in U.S. restaurants under the name:

a. Chilean sea bass
b. Brazilian cod
c. Argentinean hake
d. Mexican halibut

True/False (download as .pdf; download answer key)

Decide whether the following statements are true or false.

1. Inland countries that do not have any access to the sea cannot sign the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

False. Every country in the world, including "landlocked" countries with no access to the sea coast, has a right to sign the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

2. If countries pass laws to make over-fishing illegal, international laws will be unnecessary.

False. Fish do not stay neatly within the territorial waters or EEZs of coastal countries. International laws governing fishing are necessary to regulate fisheries in international waters.

3. The United States has not signed the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

True. The United States has not signed the Convention, despite the support of President Bush. Read the feature story in this issue, "A Constitution for the Oceans" to find out more about the Convention; the articles in Perspectives offer divergent opinions on whether ratifying the Convention today would be in the best interest of the United States. Law Review contains more information about how treaties are ratified in the United States.

4. There were more than 300 attacks on ships by pirates in 2004.

True. The Piracy Reporting Center recorded a four-fold increase in attacks by pirates between 1992 and 2004. In 2004, more than 329 attacks by pirates were recorded.

5. Under United States law, a defendant found guilty of piracy receives an automatic sentence of life in prison.

True. The principle of "universal jurisdiction" permits any state that captures a pirate to try him or her in its courts; under U.S. law, pirates receive a sentence of life in prison.

Brainstorming
Ask your students to brainstorm uses of the ocean. In what ways do human beings use or exploit ocean resources?

Then ask students to visit the website of the UN Atlas of the Oceans. The menu on the left of the page lists the uses of the ocean under the title "10 sub-topics."

Compare the list of ocean uses to the list on the UN Atlas site, and try to categorize all the uses you came up with under the 10 sub-topics on the UN site. Did you touch on all of these areas? Did you think of additional ocean uses? Are there any ways in which we use the oceans that surprise you?

Ask each student to click on one sub-topic and summarize it, and then click on another sub-topic from the menu at the left. For example, if students click on "Human Settlements on the Coast," the subtopics will be:

• Coastal Urbanization
• Destruction of Habitat
• Legislation
• Management Approaches
• Physical Alteration
• Types of Habitats at Risk

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