If one person holds back, someone else may harvest the fish. Private ownership of fish schools could provide the incentive to maintain the fish population. The rivers where salmon spawn are also owned in common, so nobody can exercise ownership rights to foster wild salmon reproduction. Private ownership of water rights and spawning beds may create the incentives necessary to maintain the salmon population. Students identify four principles of ecodetection.
Students use the principles of ecodetection as a guide in reasoning about environmental mysteries.
Introduce the idea that environmental problems often puzzle people. For example, everyone wants clean air, yet most people pollute the air when they drive their cars or ride a bus. Most people like wild animals and fish, yet our uses of land and water sometimes cause the population of wild animals and fish to decline. The mysteries in this curriculum invite the students to learn about these contradictions and to understand why they exist. Students also will work on deciding how to correct environmental problems.