Our Report:
On our trip we went to Howland’s Landing at Catalina Island. We were at a camp called CELP, or Catalina Environmental Leadership Program. Catalina Island is one of the Channel Islands off the coast of California. To get there we flew to LAX, took a bus over to a ferry and took the ferry to the island. On this trip we snorkeled, kayaked, hiked, and did group activities. We learned about composting, native fish and animals, and we made new friends. All at the same time we also collected science data for the projects that we have made.
We are investigating how the depth of the water affects the kelp density in a certain area. This are was Howland’s Landing. We collected the data we needed for this project by dropping a depth meter in a kelp polygon and then dropping the depth meter outside the kelp polygon. We would see what the difference would be. We generally found that kelp liked shallower water versus deep water. It would have helped if we could have gone out farther into deeper water so that we could prove our point. That way we could see where there was more kelp. A few difficulties our group had were using the tools but we got help and then we were able to use them. The kelp density in shallower water would change in an El Nino year because the kelp would be uprooted from their holdfasts. That way they could just float anywhere and nobody would know if they liked shallow or deep water. We learned a lot of stuff on our trip to Catalina Island. It was a great trip, and I think that everybody learned so much.