Catalina Island Leadership Program

Phoenix Country Day School

Kelp Forest Information Links

Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuaries

El Nino

the cove we stayed in

the kelp in 1980

kelp in 2002

kelp in 2004

Introduction: On October 16th, 2006 our 8th grade class took a trip to Santa Catalina Island. We stayed at Howland’s Landing with the CELP program, which stands for Catalina Environmental Leadership Program. Before we got there we did background research on fish names, places on the island, and general information about the geography. Once at the island our school spilt up into lab teams. Our name was the Leopard Sharks. For the duration of the trip we collected data from various locations. Such as Emerald Bay, the Bathtubs, and Howland’s Landing. While staying at the camp we lived by the four principles. Everything is connected, biodiversity is good, there is no waste in nature, and everything runs on energy. These themes guided us through our research.

Research: Our research question was; how does the El Nino effect and change the kelp forest. Before we left for our trip we learned about El Nino. When we found out that we were going to Catalina Island, we put the two together. Our strategy to collect our data was to look and record where the kelp forest thrived..
The rover diver fish count that we recorded greatly helped our data collection. First we spread out and counter the variety of fish species the same area and counted every fish we saw for 5 minutes. A GPS point marked the spot that we swam in. When we got back to school we put our data into a computer, found our GPS spot and compared it to the data that other scientist had found in early years. The most recent El Nino was in 2003 so we took information before 2003 and the data we collected in 2006.

Conclusion: From our research we have concluded that El Nino greatly affects the kelp forest and life in the kelp forest. El Nino kills off vital parts of the food chain. If there is no bacteria than the small fish will not be able to feed. If this happens then the small fish will start to diminish and than the bigger fish will not have a food supply. So in fact if the bacteria is killed from an El Nino then the whole food chain is disrupted. The hotter water cripples the growth of the kelp. Also many of the small animals would use the holdfast of kelp as shelter or eat the kelp blades for food. As the kelp diminishes so do these fish. Naturally we had some difficulties and a few uncertainties that happened while we were on the trip. One difficulty was just collecting the data. The hardest part was collecting the data while in the freezing cold water. Another frustrating aspect was trying to collect temperate samples while in a kayak. Some of the uncertainties we had were about the sea surface temperature. It’s really hard to get the exact temperature. Also the temperature changes from time to time. The fact that MyWorld was new software to us did not help either. Before the trip we did some experiments and played with MyWorld, but not to the point that we were familiar with the software. If we could have a chance to go back to the island we would hope to go on a El Nino year. Then we could really record data and get the best information from first hand experiences. If it had been an El Nino year our group wouldn’t be able to see the beauty of the kelp forest and experience the forest to the fullest. If it were an El Nino year it might of helped because our question directly pertains to El Nino.