An Environmental Education and Communication Project on Migratory Fishes and Fishing Communities

This study aims at evaluating the environmental education (EE) and communication intervention for the valorization of migratory fish resources in an estuary of northern Portugal. The EE component intervention was implemented among Middle School pupils of that region. Students’ knowledge was quantitatively evaluated with an experimental approach of pre-testing and post-testing, on the ocean and estuarine literacy (OEL) and biology of migratory species, such as sea lamprey. This study also analyzes the communication component developed via social media. Results of the EE component show an evident increment of OEL (p < 0.05). It is also highlighted that students had previous knowledge on issues that are not covered in the curriculum. Social media has shown to be an effective communication tool mostly among the scientific community (e.g., Ethnobiology). The research has various implications to OEL since it brings a new perspective towards the integration of ocean literacy in formal education; as well as the valorization of Students’ local ecological knowledge and of inter-generational dynamics. This study contributed to promoting local biodiversity, OEL, and participatory local governance of these ecosystemsThe publication was carried out in the context of the provision of services called “Valorization of the fishing production of the Minho River-contribution to the management and valorization of fishing products of the Minho River (COOPERMINHO)—Communication and socio-environmental training of the Local community for the valorization of the fish resources of the Minho River,” financed, via the Municipal Council of Vila Nova de Cerveira, by the program Mar 2020—Programa Operacional Mar 2020 Aviso n°5/2016. Thanks are due for the financial support to CESAM (UID/AMB/50017/2019), to FCT/MCTES through national funds, and the co-funding by the FEDER, within the PT2020 Partnership Agreement and Compete 2020. This work was also supported by the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia under Grant SFRH/BPD/116379/2016; by the Resclima-EDU Project, funded in the 2018 Call of the State Program of I + D + I, oriented to the Challenges of the Society of the Government of Spain (ref. RTI2018-094074-B-I00). Braga HO thanks the CAPES Foundation—Ministry of Education of Brazil (BEX: 8926/13-1)S