How to Get Involved in Seaweek

Even if you cannot attend a Seaweek event, there are still plenty of ways to get involved and connect with the moana.  

Seaweek is a time to celebrate and strengthen our connections with the ocean - but we understand that Seaweek celebrations will look very different in various parts of the country as some regions and communities have been devastated by recent weather events. If your capacity to get involved this year is limited, but you still want to be a part of Seaweek in some way, we have put together a collection of ideas around how to participate without attending an official event. 

Our ideas for celebrating Seaweek independently:

• Take a mindful walk by your local beach or rocky shore. See if you can identify any species you come across or use this time to reflect on the ocean’s importance and role in our lives. If you don’t live by the sea, you could take a walk along your nearest river or wetland. This is a good time to think about the interconnectedness of different ecosystems and to remember that the health of our waterways also affects our oceans.  
• Collect rubbish to prevent it from entering our oceans via local waterways.
• See if there are any local environmental initiatives, working bees, or community projects where you could lend a hand.  
• Celebrate Seaweek by creating ocean-inspired art. Make a sculpture from recycled or collected materials, build sand sculptures at the beach, or create other art with an ocean theme.

Things to do at home 

• Share information about marine science or conservation on social media or with friends. 
• Watch an ocean-inspired film or documentary. 
• Check out marine science news from popular science websites (e.g., NIWA). 

Relevant Resources 

Check out some of our favourite resources to learn more about our marine environment: 

• The awesome folk at the Science Learning Hub have put together a special page full of articles, videos, and classroom activities for Seaweek.
• Find engaging videos and quizzes on the Young Ocean Explorers website.
• New Zealand Association for Environmental Education have a spotlight on marine educational resources on their site.
• The Frontiers for Young Minds website has a collection of ocean-themed educational articles.
• To engage little ones in learning about the sea, visit Twinkl’s Seaweek collection.

Webinars 

There’s some really interesting webinars coming up, not all of which are affiliated with Seaweek, some are aimed towards a global audience and are a great way to gain perspective on marine education and science communication.  

• Octo’s March 2 webinar, ‘What should we eat? Mapping the environmental footprint of food from the ocean and land’, will focus on the spatial differences in the efficiency of food production and how we can use this knowledge to work towards a more sustainable future. Check out Octo’s webinars here.
• Join our How to identify a marine pest online webinar with ‘Clean Below? Good to go.’ on Wednesday, March 8, to learn to differentiate between native and invasive marine species. Check it out here.
  
• Octo is hosting another webinar on March 15 introducing a ‘youth ocean action toolkit’. This new toolkit aims to engage youth in ocean health and conservation, featuring important concepts such as ocean literacy principles, marine protected areas, community action, and social media. Check out Octo’s webinars here.
• Check out Dart Learning's website to see upcoming webinars from Seaweek Australia.

Other ways you can engage with Seaweek 

We hope to foster these conversations about the sea by sharing these stories and showing how interconnected we are. To participate in spreading the word about why we are celebrating the sea, share with us on social media a short description of the ocean’s role in your life - what it means to you - or tell us about a time that has caused you to reflect on our marine environment. Share your thoughts with us on either Instagram or Facebook, and make sure to tag (@Seaweek on Facebook or @nzseaweek on Insta) and use the hashtag #CelebrateTheSea so we can see your posts and share them!