Conducting the Exercise

To present this exercise to a class of students, you describe an oil spill scenario in which winds and currents are moving an oil slick towards a section of Delaware Bay shoreline. Your students, working in teams, then use an ESI map of the threatened shoreline to set protection priorities for that area. Below are instructions for leading the exercise. (If you are working on your own, first complete the student tasks described in step 5, then view the Instructor's Notes at the bottom of the page.)

Links to all the resources described are at the page bottom.

1. Divide the students into small groups of 3-4 people each.

2. Provide each team with a Map Kit, containing the materials they'll need for this exercise.

3. Present a brief (10-15 minute) Introduction to ESI Maps.

4. Present the Oil Spill Scenario to the class.

5. Assign each team the following tasks. Explain that once the teams have completed these tasks, each team will be asked to present its findings to the class.
   1. Identify Resources at Risk:
      • Identify the biological resources (animals, plants, or their habitats) that may be at risk from the spilled oil (at sea as well as on shore, if oil reaches shore). List these resources.
        
      • Prioritize the list of resources at risk according to (a) sensitivity to the oil spilled and (b) the likelihood of being contacted by the spilled oil. In general, species in early life stages (i.e., nesting, laying, hatching, or fledging) or present in large numbers are at the greatest risk. Justify and explain your priorities.

   2. Establish Protection Priorities:
      • Looking at the shoreline habitats affected by the spill, identify areas that would receive high priority for protection (assuming that protection is possible). In general, the habitats shown in red and orange on ESI maps (and given ESI rankings of 9 or 10) are the most sensitive to spills. Discuss your rationale for choosing these areas over others and the tradeoffs your choices involve. Discuss any potential difficulties you anticipate.

   Instructor's Notes: Use the link at page bottom to get more details about the resources at risk in the area covered by this map, and examples of possible protection priorities.

6. Ask each team to report their results to the class, then summarize and discuss the teams' results.

Note: This exercise is designed around a map of a section of the shoreline of Delaware Bay, in the state of Delaware. You can modify the basic exercise to use either a map of a shoreline near you or of an area related to other class projects, rather than our example map. See the link, Tips for Creating Your Own Exercise, below, for ideas on developing your own exercise.

For more information

Oil Spill Scenario Present the spill scenario.

Tips for Creating Your Own Exercise You can modify the basic exercise to use either a map of a shoreline near you, or of an area related to other class projects.