Adam
Harrison
links
Introduction: There are many moorings and anchoring spots around Catalina Island. They are affecting the natural habitats for many marine species. Harrison and Adam went to Howland's Landing and Emerald Bay to look for ways that the moorings and anchoring spots are affecting marine life, especially the garibaldi. We also searched through books for human disturbances throughout history. Knowing how the garibaldi are affected can be important for the ecology of the region.
Research:
Throughout history there have been many disturbances around Catalina Island.
Hundreds of years ago, Native Americans canoed from the mainland to Catalina
Island. They brought new types of wildlife to the island. They brought
pigs, goats, and sheep. Those animals destroyed plants on the island and
altered the ecosystem. In 1830, settlers started moving to the island.
They brought livestock and built farms. This destroyed the natural habitat
on the island. In the late 1900's major moorings were built on the island
and motorboats came. In 1980 the Channel Islands National Park was established.
That was good for the garibaldi because they set up protected areas for
the fish, as well as protect the garibaldi as a species. In the present
day recreational activities such as poaching are the main disturbances
for the garibaldi. Around the anchoring spots and the moorings there are
no plants and the fish are scarce. As soon as one leave the anchoring
spots kelp and fish are thriving. The moorings destroy some natural habitats
for the garibaldi. There are chains underwater for the mooring areas and
those chains rust. The rust kills the plants and prey that the garibaldi
need.
The methods and materials that were used for collecting our data were
pretty basic. While at Catalina Island we used snorkeling gear in order
to examine the moorings around the island first hand. One thing that we
noticed was that wherever there were moorings the ground was barren of
kelp and fish. After four snorkels where we observed the same things we
are convinced that this was the case around the entire island. When we
got back we used books in our science classroom to research past human
disturbances in the Channel Islands and Catalina Island as well as confirm
the moorings do have a huge effect on the marine life in the area. Our
map shows where the moorings are as well as how many of them there are
just in our area of interest. The garibaldi need kelp because it acts
as a shelter as well as for hunting. The kelp brings prey for the garibaldi
to eat. We both learned a lot from using just the basic materials that
were available to us.
Humans are destroying the marine environments. Not just at Catalina but
all over the world. This is not new, it has been happening throughout
history, however it has been getting worse.
People should be able to see that they are affecting the environment in
a negative way and use their best efforts to stop. The effects of humans
on the environment have been occurring throughout history so we have a
lot to make up for. It can be done if we stop building and expanding into
animal’s natural habitat. If people limit the building of new moorings
and anchoring spots for ships, they can let marine life grow and reclaim
some of the land that we ruined.
Conclusion: We have learned a lot from going to Catalina Island for our school trip. We learned that humans have been affecting the ecosystem there since 7000 B.C. We also observed that the moorings in the area have a negative impact on the kelp and the garibaldi’s habitat. In the future, someone could build on this research by looking for specific kinds of human disturbances, such as different kinds of pollutants. They could also look at the specific impact of the disturbances on kelp. Many of the impacts on garibaldi would also affect other fish and kelp so it would be easy to follow up on this research. Our trip to Catalina both involved scientific research and having a good time with our fellow classmates. Although humans have already damaged the marine life around Catalina, there are many efforts to try and reduce the impact of humans on the life around the island. We learned many of the efforts from our trip and from researching such as the entire marine protected areas and how are protected from being fished in all areas. After researching the impact of humans on the ecosystem, I am not surprised that a lot of action is being done to try and make up for all the years that humans have impacted the marine life and the California state fish, the garibaldi.
Works
Cited
Schoemherr, Allan, Feldmeth, Robert, Emerson, Michael: Natural History
of the Islands of California: University of California Press, Los Angeles,
California: 1999
Eschmeyer, William, Herald, Earl: Pacific Coast Fishes Peterson Field
Guides, New York, New York: 1983
