KZN shark show ‘wows learners’
Pupils from around South Africa witnessed the dissection of a shark at the KZN Sharks Board offices in uMhlanga.
|||Durban - Schoolchildren are getting an inside perspective of those feared and admired beasts of the deep – the shark.
On Tuesday pupils from around the country witnessed the dissection of a shark at the KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board offices in uMhlanga.
The dissection was part of Marine Week events hosted by the Sharks Board.
KZN Sharks Board’s outreach facilitator, Steven Mubanga, said sharks were a useful tool to get across a bigger message.
“It wows the learners,” he said, explaining it was important to educate children about nature conservation. “When we speak about the oceans, people don’t understand it ties up to their everyday lives.”
Mubanga said he expected more than 2 000 children would visit the Sharks Board offices in the next three days.
Then he said they would be travelling to the North and South coasts to educate children at schools which could not afford to come to the board’s offices.
One of the children at the Sharks Board offices on Tuesday was Antonio Martin. The 17-year-old Randfontein High School pupil participated in the dissection of a shark.
“It was super cool,” he said as he described how he had to remove the entrails of the shark and show them to the audience.
Also taking part in the event was the South African navy. Navy media liaison officer, Oupa Moaraile, said: “The navy is here to promote national marine week.”
He said it was important that the navy, the custodian of the coast, ensured it too engaged in environmentally friendly practices.
Moaraile said the navy also ensured people who were fishing in the sea followed regulations.
If the navy did not do this, future generations would be able to see sea life only in aquariums.
Moaraile said they were also encouraging children to consider careers in the navy.
Daily News
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