World Ocean Week serves as a powerful platform for showcasing Shorefast’s Environmental Stewardship work.  

In 2025, a focus on engaging youth in hands-on learning experiences connected classroom education with real-world environmental action. In-school workshops, a shoreline clean-up, and multiple activities at the Town of Fogo Island’s World Ocean Day celebration highlighted how collaborative partnerships and place-based education can inspire a new generation of community scientists. 

Fogo Island Central Academy In-School Workshops 

Exploring Plastic Pollution through Cod Dissection (Grades 7-9) 

Through a partnership with the Civic Laboratory for Environmental Action Research (CLEAR), Shorefast’s team led students through an in-school cod dissection to examine the digestive tract for plastic pollution. Students learned the anatomy of a cod fish and explored how communities can participate in community science by collecting and analyzing fish guts for plastic pollution. 

This hands-on activity engaged students in scientific research while deepening their understanding of plastic pollution in our oceans. It also encouraged them to interact with a familiar and important species to Fogo Island through the lens of environmental stewardship. 

Water Monitoring: Freshwater vs. Seawater (Grades K-5) 

Our team led three field trips for students in grades K-5 to our local pond, where they explored water quality using Water Rangers test kits. Water Rangers is an organization dedicated to equipping communities with accessible tools to monitor and care for local waterways. Students learned how to test both pond water and seawater (brought in for comparison) while discussing the differences between the two and how they are interconnected within our coastal ecosystem. 

Shoreline Clean-up 

Continuing our annual tradition of an internal roadside cleanup, Shorefast volunteers picked up waste and debris alongside the road and coast in Joe Batt’s Arm. 

In preparation for World Ocean Week, Shorefast team members partnered with Atlantic Healthy Oceans Initiative (AHOI) in Gros Morne, NL to learn how to conduct waste audits – an important tool for identifying its source and reducing debris. Building on that knowledge, the team conducted an audit from the roadside cleanup to better understand waste on Fogo Island. The team found the top 3 contributors to the roadside cleanup were unidentified plastics, cigarettes, and food wrappers. 

World Ocean Day at the Iceberg Arena 

To launch our community science monitoring program for detecting green crab in our area, Shorefast hosted a booth to inform the community on the invasive species. The booth included underwater GoPro footage of a green crab, a recently caught green crab, an identifying game, and a sign-up list for interested volunteers. 

Shorefast also invited CLEAR to take part in World Ocean Day celebrations. CLEAR focuses on addressing plastic pollution through community-engaged science. At the arena event, the lab shared its community science projects, demonstrating how the public can be involved in tackling plastic waste. CLEAR also presented research related to Fogo Island, highlighting the importance of local data collection. 

In partnership with Kalup, a seaweed nursery startup from Change Islands, Shorefast hosted an interactive seaweed farming booth showcasing the full cultivation process, from nursery stages in a seawater lab to outplanting at the seaweed plot and drying techniques used after harvest. The booth highlighted our growing collaboration with Kalup and shared recent progress of our Seaweed Pilot Project, offering insight into sustainable seaweed farming in Newfoundland. 

To further generate interest in the project, Fogo Island Inn and Growlers created kelp ice cream using seaweed harvested from the plot off the coast of Fogo Island. The treat sparked conversation on how local produce can be incorporated into our food, and every available scoop was served.  

To encourage creative connections with seaweed, Fogo Island Arts hosted a sun printing booth using a cyanotype process. Participants created prints using locally foraged dried seaweed, learning about different seaweed varieties while designing ocean-inspired artwork to take home.