FR25 CC Nausicaa Sea Centre visit & Workshop the 7th continent

A group of students visited the largest aquarium in Europe Nausicaa Center National de la Mer is located in Boulogne-sur-Mer, the first French fishing port on the Channel. It is a center for scientific and technical culture and discovery of the marine environment, focusing primarily on the relationship between man and the sea. The name of the aquarium is after the Homeric princess Nausicaa from Greek mythology. It is home to approximately 58,000 marine animals from around the globe. It is about 1600 species of animals. Pupils saw rare animals in their natural environment and became even more aware of the necessity of their protection. Students could touch some of the animals during the tour. Part of the program was an immersive room about global warming  where students could see short film, which in an impressive and emotional way showed the audience the effects of the climate crisis, caused by man, on the future of our planet.

An interesting seventh continent activity took place in the Nausicaa building. The workshop was led by an expert member from Nausicaa staff. The students were divided into two competition groups. Each student received a voting device with which they determined the correct answer. The quiz questions were incorporated into 4 areas and each group of contestants chose two areas. The questions were focused primarily on the issue of sea pollution with plastics and its consequences. The quiz questions were based primarily on the necessity of meeting the goals of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development. Each question was replaced by a short explanation of the issue with proposed solutions to improve the situation. Everything was supplemented with photographs expressing the real state of marine animals affected by pollutants. At the end, both groups of competitors were scored electronically. The number of points for both groups was approximately the same.

The aquarium is a very good place for observing many species of rare marine animals in their natural environment. Thanks to this activity, the students realized the importance of each type of organism for the preservation of biodiversity. Students realized how strong the negative influence of man is on the environment. If a person changed his behavior, the current bad state could be even better.