Divide your class up into groups. For each group provide the name of a fish on the endangered list, such as the bluefish tuna or the Chilean sea bass. Allow each group sufficient time to conduct research in the library or on the Internet and discover where on the planet their type of fish still exists and in what numbers. Then provide students maps of the globe and have them mark where their particular type of fish can be found today. Allow students to use the map as part of a presentation to the class discussing the assigned fish, what has occurred to cause it to become endangered and what the prospects for survival are, based on their research.
Discuss over-fishing with your students, with information that includes the desire of fishermen to make a living and the demand of fish by consumers. With the students in groups, have each group select a particular part of the globe in which there are large fishing communities, such as in Maine or the Caribbean Sea. Have students conduct research focusing on these fishing communities and the rate of endangered fish within them. Have students develop their own ideas for preventing the extinction of these fish. Then allow students to prepare a presentation on what they have found and report to the class.
Pollution in the waters of the world is one of the significant issues impacting endangered fish. Focus on the pollution of waterways and the pollution's ability to lead to endangered fish life by concentrating on the types of pollution that exist, such as industrial waste, sewage sludge, oil spills and radioactive waste. Have students in your class select one of these types of pollution and conduct research to uncover instances in which it has caused a particular fish population to decline. Create a mural in your classroom with students that shows the fish that have been affected, as well as the pollution that has occurred to devastate their lives.
The Nassau grouper, like many other types of fish, is a coral reef habitat fish. However, because of the decline of this habitat, the Nassau grouper is endangered. Focus your lesson on the many fish living near coral reefs and provide a list of those fish, relating them to various parts of the world. Have students work individually to select one fish and write a one- to two-page report on it to demonstrate what they have learned in class, as well as what they have discovered through research.