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Keeping the Sea Clean is a free printable Grade 5 science worksheet on how communities use science to protect coasts and oceans, aligned to NGSS performance expectation 5-ESS3-1. It prints 8 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions that each ask different questions, so no two students in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.

Set 16 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

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Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. All 25 sets ask different questions.

Keeping the Sea Clean

5-ESS3-1

NameDate

Circle the best answer.

1.Boats' anchors are tearing up a seagrass meadow. What could a harbor do?
  • A.Use heavier anchors
  • B.Put in fixed moorings so boats do not need to drop anchor
  • C.Ban everyone from the harbor for ever
2.Waste water is cleaned at a works before it reaches the sea. What does that protect?
  • A.Nothing, the sea cleans itself
  • B.Only the pipes
  • C.Sea life and the people who swim there
3.Why do some fishing laws require nets with bigger holes?
  • A.So more fish are caught
  • B.So young fish escape and grow up to breed
  • C.So the nets are lighter
4.Why do some places charge a small amount for plastic carrier bags?
  • A.Fewer bags are used, so fewer end up in rivers and the sea
  • B.To make bags stronger
  • C.To make the stores tidier
5.Storm drains carry street litter into the sea. What could a town do?
  • A.Fit nets or screens on the drains to catch litter
  • B.Make the drains wider
  • C.Sweep the litter into the drains
6.Why might a community replant seagrass and salt marsh along its coast?
  • A.They shelter young fish and hold the mud in place
  • B.They make the sea saltier
  • C.They keep tourists away
7.A town turns off its seafront lights during the turtle nesting season. How could it check this worked?
  • A.Count the streetlights
  • B.Ask people whether they liked the dark
  • C.Count how many hatchlings reach the sea before and after
8.A fishing town's catches fall year after year. What could help the fish recover?
  • A.Catching the fish faster
  • B.Using bigger boats
  • C.An area of sea where no fishing is allowed, so fish can breed

LessonPrint · 5-ESS3-1 · Set 16 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Keeping the Sea Clean

Set 16. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.Put in fixed moorings so boats do not need to drop anchor
  2. 2.Sea life and the people who swim there
  3. 3.So young fish escape and grow up to breed
  4. 4.Fewer bags are used, so fewer end up in rivers and the sea
  5. 5.Fit nets or screens on the drains to catch litter
  6. 6.They shelter young fish and hold the mud in place
  7. 7.Count how many hatchlings reach the sea before and after
  8. 8.An area of sea where no fishing is allowed, so fish can breed

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to 5-ESS3-1 of the Next Generation Science Standards.